SUPER CITY ON HOLD
They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, back in the second week of August New Zealand learned that it’s also a long time in the age of Covid-19.
The week started with the country notching up 102 days free of community transmission. Just over a day later, Covid-19 had reared its ugly head in the community again. The result was Auckland was put back into alert level three lockdown and the rest of the country was returned to alert level two.
This came as a shock to everyone and it prompted a flood of dire predictions – on both the health and economic front. However, at the time of writing, health officials seemed to be wresting the Auckland outbreak under control and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was emphasising there was no intention, or need, to move to alert level four.
While the alert levels were originally set to last for two weeks until August 26, they were reviewed on August 21, and it was announced on August 24 that they would be extended until midnight August 30.
Returning to the more restrictive alert levels, even for a relatively short period
