New Zealand is re-imposing restrictions on Auckland after three members of the same family tested positive for COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Sunday.
Driving the news: New Zealand’s most populous city will be closed for three days starting at 11:59 pm on Sunday. The rest of New Zealand will not stop, but social detachment and other precautions will be reintroduced.
“Three days should give us enough time to collect more information, conduct tests on a large scale and establish whether there has been broader transmission in the community.”
– Ardern’s comments at a news conference
- Scientists have not yet determined the origins of community cases. But her mother works at the city’s airport, where newly arrived New Zealand travelers pass through on their way to the hotel’s quarantine.
For registration: Auckland is entering level 3 restrictions on New Zealand’s four-level alert system, with people being encouraged to stay in their domestic “bubbles”. Meetings of up to 10 people are permitted in exceptional circumstances, such as funerals.
- Public places must close and only essential services like pharmacies and grocery stores can open for personal contact, with distance measures in place.
The big picture: This will be Auckland’s third blockade. The last restriction was in October, after an outbreak was contained in the city. There has been a national blockade, below level 4, for six weeks since the end of March 2020.
- The New Zealand government chose not to impose any restrictions, despite cases in the community last month and last November.
- Ardern said the government is acting with caution in the latter cases while genomic sequencing is in progress, as some of the most virulent strains of coronavirus have been detected in travelers who have returned from New Zealand in hotel quarantine.
By the numbers: There are currently 47 active COVID-19 cases, with 44 in managed hotel isolation.
- A total of 1,974 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic hit New Zealand last March.
Of importance: New Zealand is due to begin inoculating the coronavirus next week, with the frontier team being the first to receive doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on Saturday.
Editor’s note: this article has been updated with new details.