Auckland virus outbreak spreads to Wellington

New Zealand's first coronavirus outbreak in six months has spread from the largest city of Auckland to the capital, Wellington. Health authorities said Friday that three people in Wellington who recently visited Auckland had tested positive. They said the outbreak had grown to 31 cases.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's government also expanded the lockdown that had been put in place Tuesday after the first community case was found in Auckland. All of New Zealand will remain in lockdown until at least next Tuesday. Previously it had been a three-day national lockdown and a seven-day lockdown in certain areas.

Genome testing has linked the outbreak to an infected traveler who returned from Sydney earlier this month and was quarantined. Health authorities don't yet know how the virus escaped quarantine. New Zealand is continuing to pursue an elimination strategy aimed at wiping out the virus entirely in the country.