New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said her confidence that they had successfully traced the cause of the Covid-19 outbreak reported on Tuesday, prompted closure measures to be implemented across the country.
Health authorities linked the country's growing Covid-19 cluster to a strong link to the Delta variant from Australia, and further investigation found the first individuals infected with the outbreak had just arrived from Sydney on 7 August.
He said the outbreak had not been in the community for too long as feared, as the individual had been under quarantine since arriving in the country.
However, the New Zealand dollar failed to react to such positive developments, continuing to trade weak around a 9 -month low against the USD.
Earlier, PM Arden had announced a three-day closure move across the country after a Covid-19 community case was first detected in Auckland in six months.
The move also affected the New Zealand Central Bank's (RBNZ) policy decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 0.25%, falling short of market expectations for an increase of 0.50%.
The total number of such clusters has increased to 21 cases, of which 11 more infections have been reported today.
