The Prime Minister has revealed that Auckland will stay in lockdown until 11:59pm on Sunday and the city and the rest of New Zealand will remain at alert level 2 after that.
COMMENT:
This was not the announcement that Auckland business owners wanted to hear.
An extra four days in lockdown may be too much for some firms already on the brink.
It will cost more jobs.It will bring more hardship.
It runs the risk of despair creeping into some quarters of the business community.
Sadly though, extending the lockdown was the only logical choice.
Having come this far to control this latest outbreak it would have made no sense to cut our losses early.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff - who can see clearly the damage lockdown is doing to his beloved CBD - put it well: "It is difficult for businesses and Aucklanders struggling under Level 3, but the evidence is clear: if we ease up on restrictions too early we risk a further resurgence of the virus and no one wants that," Goff posted on Twitter.