New Zealand has lengthened its lockdown period in its most populous city as the country grapples with fresh community coronavirus outbreak coming after months with no record of any locally transmitted cases.

New Zealand which marked its 100 days without any community transmission just five days ago has this week demonstrated how fast that can change even in a country like New Zealand being looked upon as a world leader for its handling of the virus.

The country’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern today announced that Auckland -- the city of around 1.5 million people which is at the center of the new outbreak -- will remain under a level three lockdown for another 12 days, while the rest of the country stays under level two restrictions, which means that gatherings are limited to not more than 100 people.

People under level three restrictions are expected to stay home aside for essential personal movement, schools that will operate at limited capacity, while public venues such as museums, playgrounds, and gyms will remain shut.

The Prime Minister has warned that she expects to see more cases if restrictions are not placed as she said:

"Lifting restrictions now and seeing an explosion of cases is the worst thing we could do for Auckland and for the New Zealand economy. We have got rid of COVID before ... We can do all of that again."

New Zealand's Director-General of Health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield has earlier today announced the other 12 locally-transmitted coronavirus cases which amount to 49 active cases in New Zealand, 29 of which are linked to the recent outbreak.

The cases are all in Auckland apart from two in Tokoroa, a town of 24,000 about 200km (124 miles) south of the city.

The Ministry of Health revealed that the people tested positive after a visit from contact of one of the Auckland cases and while in a press conference today, Bloomfield said that 771 close contacts of the confirmed cases had been identified, and more than 15,700 tests had been processed on Thursday, which the highest number of tests processed in a single day in the country.