New Zealand records first virus cases in 102 days
Capital plunged into lockdown after four contract disease
New Zealand has recorded its first cases of coronavirus in more than 100 days, pushing its biggest city back into lockdown.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced four new cases in Auckland and said renewed restrictions would be enforced in the area from midday today until midnight on Friday.
Ms Ardern said Level 3 measures will be put in place in the city, meaning that residents will be asked to stay
at home and bars and non-essential businesses will be closed. The rest of the country will be placed under Level 2 restrictions for the same three-day period. It means mass gatherings will be limited to 100, and it is recommended people stay at home as much as possible.
Health authorities discovered four cases of the virus in one Auckland household from an unknown source – the first cases of local transmission in the country in 102 days.
“We’re asking people in Auckland to stay home to stop the spread,” Ms Ardern said. “We know what to do because we have successfully done this before. My request is not to be dispirited or disheartened.”
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said there was no link to overseas travel in the four new infections, so the authorities expect to find other cases of community transmission.
It follows reports that a New Zealand retirement village has gone into lockdown after residents displayed symptoms of respiratory illness. The Village Palms retirement village in Christchurch advised of the lockdown in a letter to family members today, The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday. No further details were immediately available.
The Pacific island nation had largely returned to pre-pandemic life in recent weeks – with people attending sports stadiums and eating out in restaurants. The country got the virus under control by locking down early and thoroughly in March, when only about 100 people had tested positive.
In the last three months, the only Covid-19 cases have been in residents returning from abroad, who have then been quarantined upon re-entry.
Ms Arden, who has won international praise for her handling of the outbreak, launched her re-election campaign on Saturday. She said that it would be a “Covid election” – but spoke about the need for caution despite achieving the 100 days “milestone”.
New Zealand has recorded 1,570 coronavirus cases and 22 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.