- The number of Covid-19 cases in New Zealand has risen to 10 following the discovery of the first community case since February on Tuesday.
- The country has implemented a lockdown of the highest alert level for at least three days, while Auckland will continue the lockdown for another 7 days.
- Genome sequencing revealed that the first case in Auckland was related to the outbreak in New South Wales, Australia.
WELLINGTON-New Zealand’s city streets were largely empty on Wednesday, and the country resumed lockdown for the first time in six months to prevent any spread of the infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.
After a suspected delta case was discovered in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered a three-day rapid lockdown across the country on Tuesday. New Zealand has never been virus-free and life is not affected by anything. limit.
The number of Covid-19 cases rose to 10 on Wednesday, although modeling suggests that the number may rise to 50-100.
Ardern said:
From the experience we have seen overseas, we are definitely looking forward to more cases.
She added at a media conference that the blockade measures would put the country “in a much lower risk position.”
New Zealand will be at the highest alert level and will be locked down for at least three days, while Auckland will continue to be locked down for another 7 days.
Ardern said that genome sequencing showed that the Auckland case was related to the outbreak in neighboring New South Wales, Australia, but it is not clear how Delta entered the community.
In the capital, Wellington, few people venture into the city centre, which is usually crowded with shoppers and office workers, while TV screens show similar scenes in Auckland.
Vaccine failure
Panic buying broke out after the lockdown was announced on Tuesday. Although the government has repeatedly assured that there will be no shortage of supplies, people are still hoarding essential goods in supermarkets.
Companies and schools are scrambling to turn to the Internet.
Ardern won praise for curbing the local spread of Covid-19 through elimination strategies, imposing severe blockades and closing New Zealand’s international borders in March 2020. The last reported Covid-19 community case in New Zealand was in February, with a total of approximately 2,500 confirmed cases and 26 deaths, and citizens’ lives are not restricted.
Ardern’s success helped her win her second term, but her popularity has been affected by the delay in the launch of the vaccine and rising costs in a country that relies heavily on immigrant labor.
To date, slightly more than 21% of the country’s 5 million people have been fully vaccinated, the slowest among OECD countries.
Dozens of people gathered in Auckland and other cities to protest the blockade. The police confirmed that four people were arrested at an anti-blockade rally in Oakland, and others were also detained in two other cities.
Judith Collins, leader of the opposition National Party, said the country has no choice but to enter a blockade.
She told the national broadcaster 1News:
If it fails, the vaccine is given to the country and then the people are vaccinated.
Treasury Secretary Grant Robertson (Grant Robertson) said that if the country remains in lockdown, the government will resume wage subsidies from Friday.
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