New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday loosened COVID-19 restrictions in Auckland, saying officials are “confident that there is no large-scale undetected transmission” of the delta variant.
The alert level in the country’s largest city will drop from 4 to 3, although Ardern said tight restrictions will remain in place, Reuters reported. Ardern said schools and offices will stay closed, adding that “bubbles” should still be tight — meaning community functions, including interactions with small groups of friends and neighbors, will be barred.
“Bubbles must remain small and exclusive,” Ardern told reporters, per Reuters.
Auckland’s new alert level, which will permit residents to go to businesses offering contactless services and to attend weddings and funerals of up to 10 people, will last for at least two weeks. The rest of the country is operating under level 2 restrictions.
“We keep doing the job of stamping out Covid,” Ardern said, per The New York Times. “We are not stepping out of Level 4 because the job is done. Nor are we moving because we don’t think we can achieve the goal of stamping out Covid-19.”
“We are confident that there is no large-scale undetected transmission,” Ardern added. “There is ongoing work to stamp it out, which is why we are still at level 3.”
There have been 3,725 confirmed coronavirus cases and 27 deaths in New Zealand since the beginning of the pandemic.
About 32 percent of the country’s total population is fully vaccinated, while 62 percent have received at least one dose.