New Zealand PM delays election by four weeks amid virus outbreak

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday delayed New Zealand's looming election by four weeks to October 17 after a renewed coronavirus outbreak hampered campaigning. New Zealand, whose original election date had been set for September 19, is battling a return of COVID-19 which last week forced the country's largest city Auckland into lockdown and ended 102 days without community transmission.

She said the change meant all parties would be campaigning under the same conditions and she would not move the date from October 17 regardless of the situation.