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.