Northland leaders say it was sheer luck the region was not infected with the Delta strain of coronavirus, after new figures confirm thousands of Aucklanders fled north on holiday when lockdown was announced. The strain continues as Auckland moves to alert level 3, with traffic jams at police checkpoints on the Auckland-Northland boundary on Wednesday as residents move home. Chris McKeen/Stuff Police and Defence Force set up a checkpoint on the Northland-Auckland border on September 3, when Northland dropped to alert level 3. The road block was quiet at the time but reports show it is busy on Auckland’s first day of alert level 3. Northland services were not only busier than expected, the region also spent 48 hours longer at alert level 4 than the rest of the country outside Auckland, at a cost of thousands, Reti said.

Source: Stuff September 22, 2021 03:43 UTC