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Auckland Mayor Phil Goff is disappointed the city’s lockdown will be extended four days but says it was the right decision.
Cabinet yesterday agreed to continue at Level 3 until 11:59 pm on Sunday would give health authorities more confidence they had contained the South Auckland COVID-19 cluster.
Shops and schools can reopen next Monday but large gatherings are banned.
The rest of the country will remain at alert level 2 for another two weeks, and all people using public transport will need to wear masks or face coverings.
Mr Goff says it has been tough on customer-facing businesses and on the council’s finances, but there is no cost-free way of getting through the pandemic as countries like the United States and Brazil are finding.
"And what we’ve got to think about, and we think about it in particular in the Pasifika and the Māori communities, we've got more vulnerable people in those communities and those are the people we sacrifice if we don't do the right thing. I'm thinking of the older folk in our communities, the people who have got diabetes and other co-morbidities, we're issuing them with a death sentence if we don't do the right thing," Mayor Goff says.
Mayor Phil Goff
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