Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday extended New Zealand's strict nationwide COVID-19 lockdown saying the current outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus had not yet peaked.
The level 4 national lockdown was extended by three days until midnight on August 27 while Auckland, the epicentre of the outbreak, will have restrictions in place at least until August 31.
"The safest option for all of us right now is to hold the course for longer," Ardern said at a news conference.
"If the world has taught us anything it is to be cautious with this variant of COVID-19," she added.
Ardern said contacts in the community by people infected with the Delta variant were reported all over the country. There are more than 320 locations of interest linked to the outbreak and 13,000 contacts have been recorded, far more than in previous outbreaks.
"Delta has changed the rules of the game," Ardern said.
New Zealand earlier in the day reported 35 new cases of COVID-19 taking the total number of infections in the outbreak to 107.
The health ministry said in a statement that 33 new cases are in Auckland and two are in the capital Wellington.
Israeli tanks, under cover from heavy fire from air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, residents and Hamas media said, while airstrikes hammered Rafah in the south.
India voted on Monday in the fourth phase of a seven-week long general election, as campaign rhetoric became more strident over economic disparities and religious divisions, while soaring summer temperatures was a challenge for some voters.
Flash floods and mud slides in Indonesia's West Sumatra province has killed at least 37 people while the search for 17 others is ongoing, authorities confirmed.
The season's first major wildfires have spread across Western Canada as authorities issued an evacuation order for a community in British Columbia and warned of poor air quality across provinces.
At least 15 people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.