New Zealand has abandoned its strategy of eliminating coronavirus, easing some Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in its biggest city Auckland, and will instead look to live with the virus while controlling its spread.

The Pacific nation was among just a handful of countries to bring Covid-19 cases down to zero last year and largely stayed virus-free until an outbreak of the highly infections Delta variant in mid-August frustrated efforts to stamp out transmission.

“With this outbreak and Delta the return to zero is incredibly difficult,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference.

“This is a change in approach we were always going to make over time. Our Delta outbreak has accelerated this transition. Vaccines will support it,” she said.