- New Zealand authorities managed to determine the origin of the recent outbreak of Covid-19 from a traveller who arrived from Sydney on August 7.
- The man has been quarantined and hospitalized since his arrival, which makes people hope that the virus will not persist in the community as long as people fear.
- The Oakland man arrived on a “red zone” flight and arranged to return to stranded citizens after the trans-Tasman travel bubble was suspended.
WELLINGTON-New Zealand reported on Thursday that it had made a breakthrough in tracking the source of the Covid-19 outbreak that put the country in lockdown, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said should help ” Eliminate this virus.
This week, health officials have been trying to determine how an Auckland man contracted the new coronavirus, thus ending New Zealand’s six consecutive months of no community cases.
Tests showed that the man was carrying a strain of Delta found in Australia, and Ardern said the investigation narrowed its source to people who arrived from Sydney on August 7.
She said that since landing, the passenger has been in isolation and hospitalization, which shows that the virus has not spread in the community as initially feared.
Ardern told reporters:
We believe that we have found the puzzle we are looking for.
She said that finding the source of the outbreak also increased “the ability to hover the virus, lock in and eliminate it.”
She said that the number of cases increased by 11 overnight to 21.
Cautiously optimistic
When the first case appeared on Tuesday, Ardern ordered a three-day national lockdown, the first time in 15 months for New Zealand, and Auckland and the nearby Coromandel faced a one-week restriction.
she says:
We are all prepared for cases to get worse before they get better, and this has always been the pattern of these outbreaks.
But she said that there are reasons for cautious optimism, “because we believe it existed shortly before it was discovered.”
Infected passengers arrived from Sydney on so-called “red zone” flights. When Wellington suspended the trans-Tasman travel bubble due to multiple outbreaks in Australia, they arranged to bring back stranded New Zealanders.
The person tested positive two days later and was hospitalized a week later.
Officials said that it is not yet clear how the virus spread to the community and that 1,000 close contacts of positive cases are currently being evaluated.
It will be decided on Friday whether to extend or end the three-day lockdown on Saturday.
“Covid Zero” Strategy
New Zealand has adopted a policy of eradicating the virus in the community instead of containing it, which resulted in only 26 deaths in a population of 5 million.
Neighboring Australia has been pursuing a similar “Covid zero” strategy, but is working hard to contain the outbreak of the Delta variant.
Health authorities on Thursday urged large-scale Covid-19 testing on entire inland towns in western New South Wales. The outbreak that broke out in Sydney two months ago is spreading.
The region is struggling to cope with Australia’s first major outbreak in aboriginal communities, and a professional military health team was deployed this week to strengthen slow vaccination efforts.
In the early days of the pandemic, approximately 750 residents of Wilcania posted notices on the town’s restrictions, asking travelers not to stop – fearing that the virus might destroy an already fragile community, where more than 60% People think it is aboriginal.
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