For the last 34 days, city residents have only been allowed outside to exercise in their neighbourhoods, shop for groceries or pharmacy products or seek medical care.
Those deemed essential workers have been allowed to go to their workplaces.
Today Auckland and nearby Waikato town Whakatīwai recorded 22 new Covid cases and 377 active cases. So far one person has died in the latest outbreak.
Sydney residents, meanwhile, have now been in lockdown since June 26.
That meant the lockdown is now in its 13th week and 86th day.
However, four local government areas within Sydney were already placed under "stay at home" orders before that date as New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian delayed going into a citywide lockdown.
Today New South Wales recorded 935 new cases and four deaths, while on Sunday the state recorded 1083 new cases and 13 deaths - the deadliest day yet of the outbreak.
Cases numbers have dipped in recent days, but Berejiklian warned case numbers were still likely to climb to a peak during October.
Yet there was some good news today.
Residents of 12 Sydney local government areas earlier targeted because of the greater spread of Covid within them today woke to new freedoms, meaning they are now subject to the same rules as the rest of the city.
Those LGAs - Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Strathfield and parts of Penrith - earlier had spent weeks under the harshest lockdown rules in the state.
That had included a night curfew between 9pm and 5am in which they weren't allowed to leave their homes and only being allowed to exercise outdoors for two hours per day.
However, from today, they (and the rest of Sydney) will be allowed to exercise or engage in an outdoor recreation for an unlimited time.
They will also be able to do that exercise anywhere within their local government areas as opposed to earlier when they had to be within 5km of home.
They will also be able to attend small weddings of up to 11 people anywhere in Greater Sydney, single people can also team up with a bubble buddy from anywhere in the city, while fully vaccinated people can gather in groups of five.
There are also many more shops open in Sydney than in Auckland.
As well as supermarkets, pharmacies and liquors stores, Officeworks, Bunnings and pet supply stores are open.
Cafes and restaurants can sell takeaway food, while Big W, Target and Kmart are open but only operating with click and collect and home delivery services.
Melbourne residents, meanwhile, are now in their seventh week of lockdown and 46th day.
However, the city has endured about 230 days under lockdown restrictions since the pandemic started.
Victoria today announced there are 567 new cases and one death. The state has 5675 active cases.
Melbourne will be in lockdown until late October but greater freedoms will gradually be introduced, especially for those fully vaccinated once 80 per cent of the eligible population has been double dosed, the Government revealed in a new plan yesterday.
However, as of today, Melbourne residents are only allowed to leave their home for one of six reasons.
• Shopping for necessary goods and services
• Caregiving or compassionate reasons, including medical care or to get a Covid-19 test authorised work (with a permit) or permitted education
• Exercise (once a day for up to 4 hours, and that 4 hours includes any time spent outdoors socialising in limited groups)
• Outdoor social interaction in limited groups (once a day for up to 4 hours, and that 4 hours includes any time spent on exercise)
• To get a Covid-19 vaccination (provided the distance travelled, and the time taken is no more than is absolutely necessary)
Supermarkets, pharmacies and liquors stores and pet supply stores are all open in Melbourne.
Cafes and restaurants can sell takeaway food only - that includes inside malls, which are also open.
Non-essential retail outlets can only sell goods by click and collect payments or through deliveries.
