Thanks for following our live updates today, these have now concluded after it was announced alert levels will remain as they are.
4.45pm: Opposition leader Judith Collins says she must trust the Government made the right decision to not alter alert levels today.
"We don't have that info so we just have to trust she has that advice," Ms Collins said following the PM's announcement earlier.
She says she feels for small businesses affected by the decision for Auckland to remain at Level 3 for a further four days.
"There will be people who will be wondering if they can open up their doors next week," Ms Collins says.
"It sounds like a 2.5 lockdown and that's the sort of thing that creates a lot of uncertainty."
4.15pm: Auckland mayor Phil Goff says news that his city will remain at Level 3 for a further four days is "disappointing for all of us".
He says the reduction of cases over the last few days gave way to hope that it would be possible to return to Level 2 by Wednesday night, as initially outlined.
However, Mr Goff agrees we should take the advice of medical experts, as the Government has done.
"We're almost there Auckland, we are hopefully now on the home straight, we need to stay the course and we will get there."
4pm: The Government will make face masks mandatory on public transport from Monday, when the whole of New Zealand moves to Alert Level 2 until Sunday, September 6.
3.25pm: Health has taken precedence in the Government's decision to delay changes to alert levels, Ms Ardern says.
"We are constantly keeping in mind the cost to business, the cost to the economy," she says.
3.15pm: The Prime Minister conceded, "this has been a hard year... if it feels hard, it's because it is."
The reason for those outside of Auckland remaining at Level 2 is because of the "enforceability issue", Ms Ardern says.
It would be too hard to stop Aucklanders coming and going if the rest of the country moved to Level 1, and so this decision is "a common sense approach to protect people's health," Ms Ardern says.
3.05pm : Auckland will come out of Alert Level 3 on Sunday at 11.59pm, four days later than originally planned.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the decision came from a recommendation from the Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, which the Government agreed.
"If it weren't for Level 3, this cluster would be exponential, for this I have no doubt," Ms Ardern said in her highly-anticipated announcement to the nation today.
"The cases will keep coming for a while to come."
The rest of New Zealand will remain at Alert Level 2, despite recording no new cases of Covid-19, in order to limit inter-regional travel.
Ms Ardern says the goal is to manage the Auckland cluster at Level 2 and that no mass gatherings will be allowed beyond 10 people, except for tangi or funerals.
3pm: Watch the live stream as Jacinda Ardern announces whether Auckland will emerge out of Level 3 amid nine new cases today.
1.45pm: More from the Ministry of Health's 1pm press conference: Yesterday, 4589 Covid-19 tests were carried out in New Zealand, bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 697,070. In the past week there has been almost 100,000 tests for the virus carried out.
The Government's Covid-19 Tracer app now has 1.77 million registered users - about 43 per cent of New Zealand's population over 15-years-old.
1pm: There are eight new cases of Covid-19 in the community and one more in managed isolation, Dr Ashley Bloomfield has announced.
Seven of the eight are confirmed cases, one is probable and all are linked to the existing Auckland cluster.
One of the new cases is linked to the Auckland bus journey where two other people have already tested positive.
Dr Bloomfield says cases traced to the bus "do give us pause for thought" and that we "may well still see further cases".
12.15pm: Auckland needs to be downgraded to level 1.5 to save businesses from collapse, Michael Barnett, Chief Executive of the Auckland Business Chamber told 1 NEWS.
He says by locking down businesses, they will fail.
12pm: Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield will provide the latest coronavirus infection numbers at 1pm in a press conference
You can see this announcement and Jacinda Ardern's press conference on alert levels on 1news.co.nz, Facebook and on TVNZ1.
Yesterday, three new cases of Covid-19 were announced, two in managed isolation and one in the community.
11.15am: There has been an "unprecedented fall" in retail sales in the June 2020 financial quarter, Stats NZ reports.
Not surprisingly, the biggest losers have been sales for food and beverages which fell 40 per cent, followed by the sale of fuel which fell 35 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Supermarkets and grocery stores on the other hand, reported a record rise in sales by 12 per cent as they continue to operate as essential services through lockdown restrictions.
11am: If the Government keeps Auckland under level 3 restrictions any longer it will be a "kick in the guts" for businesses, says ACT leader David Seymour.
He has criticised the Government this morning, says it has failed to "test, trace and isolate the outbreak" as intended.
10.30am: Auckland Mayor Phil Goff will speak with media today around 4.15pm today, following the announcement on alert levels.
Health or economics? That's the conflict facing today's announcement at 3pm to decide whether we are ready to change alert levels. Despite case numbers dropping each day, health officials say it's too risky to downgrade just yet. Whereas small businesses say any longer and they won't survive.
10am: After expressing frustration at the slow pace of approval for coronavirus treatments, President Donald Trump has announced the emergency authorisation of convalescent plasma for Covid-19 patients.
The announcement came after days of White House officials suggesting there were politically motivated delays by the Food and Drug Administration in approving a vaccine and therapeutics for the disease that has upended Trump's re-election chances.
9.45am: Terence Harpur of the Takapuna Beach Business Association is calling for an Alert Level 1.5 to allow businesses to return to normal quicker.
He told RNZ spending in the suburb has dropped 64 per cent, impacting hospitality and accommodation in particular.
9.10am: Kiwis who contracted coronavirus have spoken to TVNZ1's Sunday programme about the effects of the illness, and how distressing it is seeing people not following mask and social distancing rules.
8.40am: A data modelling expert is calling for New Zealand to remain at its current alert levels for a week longer, with the risk of undetected Covid-19 in the community still out there.
Professor Shaun Hendy told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning any transition down alert levels is riskier than last time, so the Government has a big decision today.
8.10: Political analyst Bryce Edwards has taken a look at the debate about how serious the Government’s Covid-19 border testing botch-ups are.
8am: The Auckland Business Chamber says many businesses in the region are struggling badly and are desperate for the alert levels to be dropped.
In a survey, about 18 per cent of businesses said they would not survive another lockdown at Level 3, while 28 per cent said they could probably handle just one more.
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