February 15, 2021, 10:55 AM
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New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, will go into into lockdown after the discovery of three new community cases.
The three new cases are confirmed to be a a mother, father, and daughter in the same household in Papatoetoe, South Auckland.
Alert level 3
Residents are required to stay at home from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17.
A total of 1.7 million residents in the metropolitan city will not be allowed to leave their homes except for essential shopping and work, starting from 11:59pm on Sunday, Feb. 14.
Schools and non-essential shops will close, with restricted entry in and out of the city.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has emphasised "the need to go hard and early" in order to "avoid the risk of a wider outbreak and the risk of a longer period of restriction".
Gatherings in Auckland are now restricted to 10 people, only for weddings and funerals.
While Auckland will move into Alert Level 3, the rest of New Zealand will move into Alert Level 2, all of which are subjected to review on a 24-hour basis.
Alert Level 3 calls for residents to work from home and allows the expansion of support bubbles to include close and extended family, and caretakers or other support for isolated residents.
Alert Level 2 allows residents to leave their homes while maintaining social distancing measures.
According to Arden, the three days will allow authorities to gain "further information, undertake large scale testing and establish if there has been wider community transmission".
Anti-lockdown demonstrations
Demonstrators have gathered outside Arden's office in Auckland this morning (Feb. 15) despite orders to stay at home and Arden's current location in Wellington.
Death metal partially drowning out the lockdown protest at Ardern's electorate office. The flat occupants are apparently very pissed about the protest taking place, and maybe were woken up by it pic.twitter.com/0FhHDhY2vf
— Alex Braae (@awbraae) February 14, 2021
According to newshub.co.nz, the police are monitoring the situation and have reminded the involved parties about the restrictions.
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Top images from Getty and Unsplash.
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