Aucklands shops to reopen after three-month lockdown despite record cases

By Ainsley Thomson November 1, 2021 â€" 4.33pmNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size

Wellington: Retailers in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, will be allowed to reopen next week after being closed for almost three months during a lockdown.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said shops in the city can begin operating from midnight on November 9. Public facilities will also reopen and the number of people who can gather outdoors will increase to 25.

However, Auckland will remain at Alert Level 3, meaning many restrictions will stay in place, as the Delta variant of COVID continues to spread.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Auckland should be properly reopened by Christmas. Credit:Getty Images

Cafes and restaurants can still only offer takeaway service, and groups of up to 25 people can meet outside only, as Ardern urged people not to meet in homes.

The city, New Zealand’s largest, remains sealed off from the rest of the country until higher vaccination rates allow its citizens more freedoms under Alert Level 2.

“These decisions are carefully balanced and allow us to release some of the pressure and fatigue that we know exists in Auckland while we continue to vaccinate,” Ardern told a news conference in Wellington on Monday. “Auckland has given us time, time to vaccinate, and we must take it urgently.”

Retailers in Auckland, except for essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies, have been closed since the first case of delta was detected in the community in August. Ardern said while Auckland’s lockdown had contained the outbreak and bought the country time to raise vaccination rates, it was not possible to contain Delta.

“I don’t want anyone to live with the belief that we can keep Delta in one place, and one place only, forever,” Ardern said.

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“The boundary we have now, and the work Auckland has done, has given us time but we will not be able to contain it.”

The outbreak has already spread to the neighbouring regions of Waikato and Northland, and more recently the South Island city of Christchurch. New daily case numbers continue to rise, with a record 162 infections reported Monday.

Jessica Matthews, 10, takes a break from remote learning to play with her pet lamb. Schools have been closed in Auckland for three months, even for the children of essential workers. Credit:Getty

The New Zealand government has released modelling of the Auckland Delta outbreak that suggests cases will rise to 1400 a week by the end of month, and a potential 150 new hospitalisations a week.

Asked if rising cases would prevent Auckland from opening up more freely by Christmas, Ardern said she expected 90 per cent of eligible residents would be fully vaccinated by then.

Auckland already boasts the highest vaccination rates in the country, with 85 per cent of its residents fully vaccinated, while 94 per cent have had at least one dose.

“We cannot have a situation where we have good high rates in areas and across suburbs, but we don’t ease restrictions.”

Ardern acknowledged that New Zealand had ditched their COVID zero stance and would now vaccinate their way out of restrictions.

“Previously we worked very hard to eliminate every case â€" a simple strategy. But while Delta has forced us to change our approach, vaccines mean we can still have very similar goals to protect people and minimise the impact of COVID.”

©2021 Bloomberg, staff reporters

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