New Zealand will end the national containment of the archipelago this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday, specifying that it will remain in force in Auckland, the epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country.
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On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, about three million New Zealanders will be able to go out again and schools will reopen on Thursday, for the first time in three weeks, detailed Prime Minister Ardern.
One more week for Auckland
She pointed out, however, that in Auckland, the large city on the North Island where the much more contagious Delta variant first appeared in mid-August, the lockdown will remain in effect for at least an additional week, the epidemic not being fully controlled.
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Ardern welcomed a declining number of cases while recalling that the Delta variant is a game-changer, preventing the lifting of restrictions in Auckland.
"
We have been so successful in controlling this epidemic, the containment has been effective but it is not over,
" she said, stressing that the country cannot "
afford the slightest mistake
".
The inhabitants of the rest of the archipelago will no longer be confined, but life will not resume its normal course.
Gatherings inside will be limited to 50 people and people will have to wear a mask in certain enclosed places and present a QR code.
The first local case of contamination in six months was recorded in mid-August, leading to national containment of this country of five million inhabitants.