After less than a month in the orange traffic light setting, Auckland residents are back to the more restricted Covid-19 red and the familiar anxiety that the virus - this time the Omicron strain - is circulating in the city.
Nine cases from a single family are confirmed to have the Omicron variant, triggering a move to the red setting for the entire country from midnight last night.
The family travelled to Auckland from the Nelson Tasman region on the 13 January, attended a wedding and other events and visited a theme park and the Sky Tower before returning home.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff spoke to Susie Ferguson.
