New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has postponed general elections in the country by one month due to a spike in coronavirus cases.
The vote was supposed to take place on September 19, but will now take place on October 17 instead.
Ms Ardern said on Monday that the new date will allow parties "to plan the range of circumstances in which we will campaign".
Earlier this week, the country's largest city was closed again.
"This decision gives all parties time in the next nine weeks to campaign and the Electoral Commission enough time to ensure that the elections can go on," Ms Ardern said, adding that she had "absolutely no intention "to allow further delays in voting. .
The national opposition party argued that elections should be delayed as campaign restrictions mean Ms. Ardern had an unfair advantage.
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Restrictions were imposed on Auckland on Wednesday after several new infections were identified in the city.
Nine new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Monday, bringing the number of active cases linked to the Auckland cluster to 58.
The outbreak was initially traced to members of the same family, although Ms Ardern later said that subsequent contact tracing found a previous case involving a sick shop worker on July 31.
A health official who knew the family told the New Zealand Herald that the family was "shocked" and "a little embarrassed that this had happened to them."
The announcement of the discovery of new cases shocked the country, which had no cases reported locally for more than three months.
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