Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the highly contagious nature of the delta variant and the wide range of venues visited by people infected with the virus justifies the precautionary decision by the government to extend alert level 4 nationally until Tuesday night.

“We all want to get back to life as normal as soon as possible, but the quickest way to do that is through an effective lockdown.

“Until we know the extent of the spread and until the lockdown has been in effect long enough to stop transmission, level 4 restrictions are necessary,” he said.

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