New Zealand's Delta variant outbreak has spread beyond the largest city of Auckland, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to put additional regions into a snap lockdown.

There were 32 new coronavirus cases in Auckland, which has been in lockdown since mid-August, and two cases in the Waikato region, some 147 kilometres south of Auckland. Ardern said parts of the region will go into a five-day lockdown, Reuters reported.

She added that the government will decide on Monday whether Auckland's 1.7 million residents will remain sealed off from the rest of New Zealand.

The normally bustling high street in Auckland's CBD is largely deserted during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus outbreak. — Reuters/File
The normally bustling high street in Auckland's CBD is largely deserted during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus outbreak. — Reuters/File

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