Auckland could be lifted out of lockdown before 26 August, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
In an interview with The AM Show on Tuesday, Ardern said there was a chance the city could move alert levels when the decision is reviewed
"Our goal is to get out [of lockdown] as soon as possible," she said.
The decision to continue or end the lockdown will be made on Friday. Ardern says the review date will be a good chance to assess any changes in New Zealand's outbreak.
"We wouldn't have put a review date if there was no chance whatsoever of anything changing," she said.
But don't get your hopes up - it's still very early days, the Prime Minister warned.
"I can't give you any indication at this time because I haven't sat down and had a direct conversation with the Director-General [of Health] at this point."
Ardern says Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is of the opinion a two-week lockdown should be the "maximum" for the city.
"Nothing has changed that view to date but we will do a check-in because there are other restrictions around the rest of the country."
The rest of New Zealand is currently at alert level 2.
On 12 August four new cases of COVID-19 were discovered in the Auckland community. The whole city was put into three days of alert level 3 as authorities scrambled to trace the outbreak.
This lockdown was extended out to 26 August last Friday as cases continued to rise as a result of the cluster.
There are currently 78 active cases of COVID-19, 58 of which were detected in the community.
