The measures have complicated several high-visibility sporting events planned in Auckland.
Exactly one year after New Zealand recorded its first coronavirus case, the country’s biggest city, Auckland, woke up on Sunday to a second lockdown this month as health authorities try to rein in a cluster of the more contagious U.K. variant.
The seven-day lockdown of the city of nearly 2 million, announced late on Saturday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was prompted by the case of a person who had been infectious for a week but had not been in isolation.
“It is more than likely there will be additional cases in the community,” Ms. Ardern told a televised news conference, although there were no new cases recorded on Sunday.
The lockdown follows a three-day stay-at-home order in mid-February after a local emergence of the U.K. variant of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. There are now about 14 cases linked to the cluster.
“Despite our best efforts to date, recent cases have gone…