NZ’S BIG DAY: VIRUS LEVELS, QUAKES AND TSUMANI WARNINGS
• One of NZ’s most eventful days started at 2.27am, with a 7.1 quake off the east coast
• It was widely felt, including by the Prime Minister – ‘Bugger it’
• Another two major Pacific quakes followed, the second of which triggered tsunami warnings for large parts of NZ’s coast
• Thousands of people were evacuated from homes, schools and workplaces
• They could return at 1.25pm after the largest waves had passed; by 3.45pm, the tsunami threat was lifted
• At 4pm, the PM announced new Covid alert-level changes from 6am this Sunday

Auckland will move out of lockdown and drop to alert level 2 from Sunday. The rest of the country will move to level 1.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the alert-level changes after five days of no cases of community transmission.

The decision came after an eventful day in New Zealand, with three major earthquakes in the Pacific, numerous tsunami warnings that were eventually lifted, and the Cabinet meeting to determine Covid alert levels.