Still too early to know if NZ's coronavirus lockdown will be extended, says Jacinda Ardern

April 3, 2020

New Zealand are currently through eight days of coronavirus lockdown.

It's still too early to know just how long New Zealand's coronavirus lockdown will need to be in place for, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

Now into day eight of Alert Level 4 lockdown, New Zealand is yet to see a reduction in the number of positive tests for coronavirus, today's number lifting the total towards 900.

Initially intended to last for four weeks, the lockdown could potentially be extended longer should the number of positive cases fail to reduce.

The Ministry of Health meanwhile, are hopeful that New Zealand will begin to see a downward trend of infection after 10-12 days of the lockdown.

Speaking to 1 NEWS, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says not enough time has passed to make any kind of prediction as to how long New Zealand will remain at Alert Level 4.

"We were very open from the outset that four weeks were what we felt was needed to change the transmission, in order to make a decision of what's next for New Zealand," Ms Ardern says.

"At the moment, it's a bit too early to say. We haven't gone through a full two week period yet, we haven't seen the full benefit of the lockdown yet.

"But my hope is that as we get closer to that four weeks, we'll have a really good idea of what's going to happen yet.

"It might be that some regions come out, it might be that some regions need to stay in a little bit longer. But my goal is to have New Zealand in level four for as little time as possible."

The Prime Minister also assuring that New Zealanders are being kept in the loop with information as it's available.

"All the data we're sharing with you, I'm getting as well.

"You'll see from what's happening with our numbers, and what's happening in our regions, how we're looking in order to come out of level four.

"We'll keep sharing that, and you'll see us in real time starting to process that data, tell you what it's looking like and what it will mean for us being in level four."

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