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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2021 19:58:17 GMT
New Zealand enters lockdown over one Covid case - BBC News New Zealand is going into a snap lockdown after a man tested positive for coronavirus – the first case in the country in six months. New Zealand's government took drastic action Tuesday by putting the entire nation into a strict lockdown for at least three days after finding a single case of coronavirus infection in the community. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern invoked some of the stirring rhetoric she used early in the pandemic by urging the "team of 5 million" — New Zealand's population — to go hard and early in trying to eliminate the latest outbreak. She said Auckland, where the infected man lives, and Coromandel, where he had visited, would go into a full lockdown for seven days and the remainder of the country for three days while health experts tried to find the source of his infection. The developments prompted people to line up outside supermarkets to stock up on essential items and sparked a sharp drop in the value of the New Zealand dollar.
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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2021 21:17:27 GMT
The country has been struggling to fully vaccinate its people New Zealand had managed to stamp out the virus, and the last outbreak was in February. But Ardern had been warning that the contagiousness of the delta variant would likely require more drastic action than previous outbreaks.
New Zealand has also been slower than other developed nations to inoculate its population, leaving it vulnerable to outbreaks. Only 32% of people have had at least one shot and 18% are fully vaccinated.
And officials have been viewing a growing outbreak in nearby Sydney with alarm, saying they don't want to make the same mistakes by waiting too long to impose strict measures.
New Zealand Pauses 'Travel Bubble' With Australia Amid Coronavirus Outbreak In Sydney May 6, 2021 Health officials said genome testing would not verify until Wednesday whether the infected 58-year-old man had the delta variant, although they were working under the assumption he does.
Officials said they could not immediately find a connection between the man and the handful of people who have tested positive while isolating in quarantine after arriving from abroad. The border is seen as the most likely source of any outbreaks.
New Zealand has used very different policies to manage COVID than other countries The move into the strictest lockdown underscored the vastly different approach New Zealand has taken to the virus than most other nations, which are attempting to suppress its spread rather than eliminate it entirely.
New Zealand has reported just 26 virus deaths since the pandemic began.
The lockdown takes effect from just before midnight Tuesday. It requires people to remain at home and avoid others. Most people can leave only to buy groceries or exercise. The nation's vaccination program had been accelerating but has been suspended for two days due to the outbreak.
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Post by Admin on Aug 18, 2021 21:21:27 GMT
Australia's most populous state reported a record 633 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday as concerns grew about the delta variant's spread beyond Sydney. The previous record in New South Wales, which includes Sydney, was 466 on Saturday. Three people died on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak first detected in Sydney in mid-June to 60. "I can't express enough my level of concern at these rising numbers of cases," state Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said. "I'm incredibly concerned." Infections were also reported in towns in the west, north and central regions of the state in recent days, Deputy Premier John Barilaro said. "The delta strain is really putting regional New South Wales on that knife edge," Barilaro said. Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26 and the entire state has been locked down since Saturday. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has rejected criticism that Sydney's lockdown restrictions needed to be tougher, describing the lockdown as "extremely harsh and extremely strict" and based on expert health advice. The national capital Canberra, which is surrounded by New South Wales, reported 22 new infections from the cluster that originated in Sydney. There have been 67 infections detected since the coronavirus was first discovered in Canberra on Thursday last week.
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