New Zealand's largest city in 3-day lockdown over new Covid-19 cases

New Zealand’s largest city will be placed into a three-day lockdown after three new cases of Covid-19 were detected on Sunday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called an urgent evening press conference on Sunday to announce the measures for Auckland, after the three cases were registered within one family in the city's south.

“I’m asking New Zealanders to continue to be strong and to be kind. We all get that sense of ‘not again’ but we have been here before and we know how to get out of this, and that is together.”

New Zealand has attracted attention with its model response to the pandemic, especially for its early and aggressive action. The country has 1,974 confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19, with 25 deaths.

While the mother of the family works at the border, officials have not yet been able to establish where the cases had come from.

In Auckland, schools would only open for essential workers and all non-essential businesses would close.

For the rest of New Zealand, mass gatherings would be limited to 100 people and physical distancing rules would be strictly enforced.

Ardern said the new restrictions would be in place until midnight Wednesday (1100 GMT).