The COVID-19 restrictions in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand will remain for now and will be reviewed on Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference on Monday.

Ardern ordered a three-day lockdown for almost 2 million Auckland residents from Monday, with schools and non-essential businesses forced to close while the rest of the country was put on level-2 restrictions after three new COVID-19 cases were detected in the city.

Genomic testing had shown that the three community cases were the highly contagious variant first found in the UK, according to the health ministry.

Ardern also told the press briefing that the first shipment of the COVID-19 Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine has arrived in the country and she's not expecting any changes in the vaccine rollout schedule as of now.

(With input from Reuters)