15 Feb 2021
A coronavirus outbreak that sent New Zealand’s biggest city into a snap lockdown over the weekend involved the more transmissible UK B1.1.7 variant, health officials confirmed on Monday, the first time the strain has been detected locally.
The COVID-19 restrictions in Auckland and the rest of the country will remain for now and will be reviewed on Tuesday, Ardern said in a news conference. The Auckland lockdown is the first in New Zealand in six months, after a hard shutdown early in the pandemic largely eliminated local transmission.