NZ reports first new local cases in 102 days

NEW Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said four coronavirus cases have been found in one Auckland household from an unknown source. The new infections are the first reported cases of local transmission in the country in 102 days.

Ardern said Auckland will be moved to Alert Level 3 until midnight on Friday, meaning that people will be asked to stay at home, while bars and many other businesses will be closed.

“These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions about how to respond to it once we have further information,” Ardern said at a hastily called news conference. She continued: “I know that this information will be very difficult to receive. We had all hoped not to find ourselves in this position again. But we had also prepared for it. And as a team, we have also been here before.”

She said that travelling into Auckland will be banned unless people live there and are travelling home. She said the rest of the country will be raised to Level 2 until Friday, meaning that mass gatherings will be limited to 100 attendees and people would need to socially distance themselves from each other. Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said the cases were confirmed after a person in their 50s went to their doctor with symptoms. Six other people in the person’s household were then tested, with three more positive results.

“Importantly, the person has no history of overseas travel,” Bloomfield said, adding that the source of the infections remains unknown.