New Zealand enters nationwide lockdown after single COVID case found
(The AEGIS Alliance) – New Zealand has gone into nationwide lockdown mode after discovering the country’s first case of the COVID delta variant.
The nation had not observed one single case of COVID-19 since back in February when authorities declared they discovered 6 additional cases connected to the first case, according to CNN. One of the people was employed by a healthcare facility.
New Zealand enforced a rigorous first lockdown in 2020, preventing nearly all visitors from outside the country. New Zealand is currently among the last countries to come across the delta variant, according to a statement on Tuesday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Over 142 countries have faced delta thus far, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
“Delta has been referred to as a game-changer, and it is,” Ardern stated. “It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.
The whole nation of New Zealand has now gone into a “Level 4” lockdown, which is the absolute most limiting level. New Zealanders aren’t permitted to leave their residences with the exception of physical exercise, grocery store shopping, and necessary medical care visits.
The person that tested positive had come from Auckland, which is New Zealand’s biggest metropolitan area, as well as apparently took a trip to Coromandel, setting off closures for schools and the majority of companies in each region for a total amount of 7 days. Other areas are going to be locked down for 3 days.
New Zealand possesses reasonably reduced direct exposure and resistance to the virus compared to various other nations. A bit more than 2,500 individuals have tested positive during the pandemic out of a populace of 5 million. Ministry of Health data revealed on Tuesday that 26 individuals have died. Only 19% of the populace is completely immunized, and 33 percent has obtained one dose. By contrast, about 24% of the global population has been fully immunized, Johns Hopkins University wrote.
New Zealand is pushing for any citizen 16 years of age or older to have an option to receive a vaccine beginning in September. The vaccination rollout is presently on pause for a couple of days while authorities guarantee it has the capacity to proceed properly.
The nation has embraced a COVID eradication approach, compared to other countries that concentrated on reducing the spreading of the illness. In October, immunized New Zealanders are going to be permitted to travel for business purposes and isolate at home when they get back, as opposed to remaining in government isolation centers. The nation is expected to loosen its traveling limitations in 2022 further by making it possible for immunized visitors coming from other countries that pose a reduced COVID risk, without needing quarantine.
If we give up our elimination approach too soon, there is no going back,” Ardern stated, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. “We could see significant breakouts here like some countries overseas are experiencing, who have opened up early in their vaccination rollout.”
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
