New Zealand's Ardern postpones election as coronavirus flares up

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern postponed the country's general election on Monday by a month to October 17 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a growing coronavirus outbreak.

Ardern bowed to pressure to delay the polls after parties complained they could not campaign with nearly a third of New Zealand's five million people under lockdown in Auckland.

"Ultimately, the October 17 ... provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under,"  Ardern said at a news conference.

The prime minister ruled out delaying the polls any further, as her Labour Party maintains a strong lead over the conservative National Party in opinion polls.

With more than 21.5 million cases worldwide, a second wave of infections is also threatening further disruption in many countries. The disease has killed more than 766,000 people globally, and the number of deaths hit 50,000 in India on Monday, which is still battling its first wave with 2.5 million infections -- the third-highest in the world.

New Zealand on Monday recorded nine new cases of COVID-19, taking the number of active cases to 78. There have now been a total of 1,280 cases in the country, and 22 deaths.