"Auckland will stay in alert level 4 for at least two weeks more weeks," said New Zealand (NZ) Prime Minister (PM) Jacinda Ardern during Monday. "The decision will be reviewed on September 13." said NZ Herald while conveying the news.
"Northland will go to level three at 11:59pm on Thursday if wastewater tests – which are due on Thursday – come back clear," added Ardern per NZ Herald.
The news also quotes NZ PM Ardern saying, "The rest of the country will move to level 3 – as earlier planned – from 11.59pm tomorrow night. Level 3 will remain in place for a week and will be reviewed on September 6."
"The PM presented a graph which indicated what would have happened if we hadn't moved quickly into lockdown, with cases 'literally off the charts', totalling 550 per day, "said NZ Herald.
Key quotes
We need to be confident any cases we may have are contained and isolated.
Today's numbers showed level four was making a difference, with cases decreasing outside of households.
Market implications
As the outcome was widely anticipated, NZD/USD pays a little heed to the news while teasing the 0.7000 threshold, down 0.16% intraday by the press time.
Read: NZD/USD defends biggest daily jump in six weeks around 0.7000
