Retail stores filled within hours of reopening due to pent-up demand while some shoppers are said to have queued outside malls overnight to take advantage of early bird offers in some stores.
Libraries, museums and zoos were also allowed to receive visitors as the government eased coronavirus restrictions amid an increase in vaccination rates and due to mounting pressure from critics demanding more freedom, Reuters reported.
However, the hospitality sector remained closed.
On her first visit to the city since it closed on August 17, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the hospitality sector would reopen once Auckland reached its vaccination target.
“We’ve maintained contact with the hospitality representatives all the way through…we know how difficult it can be,” Ardern said.
“But the light is at the end of the tunnel. We’ll see it reopen in the very near future as Auckland starts hitting those targets,” she said.
Ardern said the city will move to a new “traffic light” system to manage outbreaks rather than shutting down once 90% of Auckland’s entire population has been vaccinated. So far, about 84% of Aucklanders have received their second dose.
While New Zealand has been criticized for the slow start of its vaccination campaign, nearly 80% of the eligible population has now received a second dose.
The government said Auckland schools can return to face-to-face learning from November 17.
Despite its success last year in eradicating COVID-19, New Zealand has struggled to battle a highly contagious delta species this year, forcing Ardern to switch from a zero-case strategy through lockdown to living with the virus.
New Zealand remains among the lowest cases of coronavirus in the world with less than 8,000 cases reported so far and 32 deaths.
Aside from the 1.7 million Aucklanders, residing in some nearby areas, life for the rest of the population has largely returned to normal locally even though the country’s borders remain tightly closed.
FKN