New Zealanders have been encouraged to again support local businesses following the announcement the country's current Covid-19 lockdown restrictions will remain in place for another 12 days.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in a press conference last night that the country's current lockdown restrictions would continue until Wednesday, August 26, with Auckland remaining at Level 3 while the rest of the country would continue at Level 2.
Wellington cafe Cloud Coffee, run by Jimmy Phan and April Moon, is just two days old. They received news of the lockdown following their grand opening.
"We were having grand opening party, and then we had a great time and then we were having dinner, and then we heard the news," Ms Moon told Seven Sharp.
"Bad timing, really," Mr Phan added.
The pair are now worried about the future of the business.
Jacinda Ardern said the current settings will remain in place for a further 12 days.
Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said the country is already seeing a "greater tightening in activity" as people work from home.
"There is so much more uncertainty and fear going about," Mr Olsen said.
He said going back up the alert level system "does have a psychological impact on people," adding that New Zealanders are "expecting the worst and seeing that they're going from a better position to something that's going to be much tougher to combat".
Mr Olsen said the key thing to getting through the pandemic is to "be kind" by supporting small local businesses if you're in a position to do so.
"Do continue to spend, do continue to support local businesses, do continue to back local because that will get us through this in a lot better position," he said.
He added that businesses "need to get serious with some of our business planning".
"Be aware and be prepared for Covid-19 to exist for an extended period of time and work out how your business operations can cope at Alert Level 2, 3 or 4 because we can't just hope this doesn't happen - we've got to be realistic that it will."
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