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Reuters
The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has postponed the country’s general election by a month amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
The vote was due to take place on 19 September but will now be held on 17 October instead.
Ms Ardern said on Monday that the new date would allow parties “to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under”.
Earlier this week, the country’s largest city went back into lockdown.
The measures were imposed on Auckland on Wednesday after a number of new infections were identified in the city.
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Most of the cases were linked to one family, but the announcement shocked a country that had recorded no locally transmitted cases for more than three months.
