Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warns New Zealand businesses will be hit by Auckland remaining in alert level 4.
With everywhere south of Auckland moving to alert level 3 on Tuesday 11:59pm, businesses south of New Zealand's biggest city need to be prepared for their supply chain to be affected.
"This is going to be an area where even though a business is operating at level 3 it may be complicated by some parts of the country that continue to have that higher alert level because they will continue to be able to only operate with all of those level 4 restrictions," Ardern says.
"So it may interrupt the supply chain, it may interrupt delivery. But I expect those parts of the country to understand that we are doing that to keep everyone as safe as possible and to try to get everyone back to normal as quickly as possible."
With the majority of New Zealand moving back to alert level 3 on Wednesday, thousands of people will return to their workplaces, increasing the chance of the virus spreading again.
The Prime Minister says four essential workplaces have seen some level of transmission and hinted at tightening level 4 restrictions.
"If we need to tighten up our restrictions further we will," Ardern says.
"We have a small number of workplaces operating under level 4 that have seen transmission within staff - four to date.
"This may not be a problem with the rules, say, on the factory floor, but what is happening perhaps before and after shifts or even during break times? We are looking at this in more detail."
Auckland businesses will have to struggle on with the Government set to confirm on Monday that they and Northland will remain in alert level 4 for at least another two weeks.
This comes after the Director-General of Health announced another 83 new cases on Sunday, all in Auckland.
With Auckland likely to remain in lockdown, this doesn't stop the bills from continuing to fly in. Auckland butcher Reuben Sharples is losing at least $7000 a week.
"It's gonna hurt and it's gonna be a roll-on effect. Taxes due next week, GST's due, and we've got no cash flow," the Aussie Butcher New Lynn owner told Newshub earlier this week.
