NEW ZEALAND KEEPS CURBS UNTIL NEXT WEEK AFTER 70 NEW COVID CASES

Fri 27 August 2021:

New Zealand’s statewide lockdown was extended for another four days on Friday as the country faces a new COVID-19 outbreak, according to state-run media.

After the country reported 70 new cases in the past 24 hours, the decision was made.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that the country’s level 4 restrictions will be lifted starting next Tuesday, according to Radio New Zealand.

But the country’s major city Auckland, the epicenter of the latest outbreak, will likely remain under level 4 restrictions.

“We will need to be confident we’ve stamped it out and have cases contained and isolated,” state-run media quoted Ardern as saying.

“We know COVID-19 is not going away quickly, but our strategy can evolve,” she added.

During the past 24 hours, New Zealand reported 70 new infections, bringing the total cases to 347, according to the Health Ministry. Over 333 cases were registered in Auckland and 14 in Wellington.

Police will be stepping up visibility and intensifying patrols under level-four lockdown this weekend – ahead of next week’s change of alert levels which will see all of New Zealand, south of Auckland, moved into alert level three.

“People can expect that police will intensify our enforcement of the level 4 restrictions, and more people will be stopped and questioned about their reason for moving away from home,” said Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

“With the alert level remaining the same for the weekend, we ask New Zealanders to continue to ensure their movement away home is for essential purposes only,” said Coster.

New Zealand confirmed the first case of the Delta variant in a traveler who arrived in the country from the Australian state of New South Wales on Aug. 17.

Authorities put the entire country on Level 4 lockdown after the first locally transmitted COVID-19 case was reported in February.

Under Level 4 restrictions, everyone must stay home and businesses are closed except for essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies.

Last September, New Zealand – widely praised for its response to the pandemic – lifted all restrictions across the nation, and there were no new cases for seven months.

Since the outbreak began locally in 2020, New Zealand has reported 3,297 COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths in a population of about 5 million.

To protect people from the deadly virus, so far over 2 million people have gotten their first vaccine dose, while over 1.1 million have been fully vaccinated, according to Health Ministry data.

———————————————————————————————————————-

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent