New Zealand put its biggest city on block on Sunday – after only one family tested positive for COVID-19.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered the three-day blockade to Auckland after a couple and their daughter tested positive in the widely acclaimed country for virtually eliminating the spread of contagion.
New community cases total just four in the past three months – with the block being the first in New Zealand in six months.
“We have eradicated the virus before and we will do it again,” said Ardern at a news conference in the capital, Wellington.
Level 3 restrictions require everyone to stay at home, except for essential purchases and jobs. This will also force the postponement of the Copa America regatta.
“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 from the community,” said Ardern. “This is what we believe the cautious approach requires and it is the right thing to do.”
The airlines have been alerted because the woman in the infected family works for an airline catering company, LSG Sky Chefs, where she mainly works in laundries, officials said. She was not boarding planes.
His unidentified family was the first confirmed infection since a traveler who returned from Europe tested positive on January 24, the first case in two months.
New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, has reported a total of just over 2,330 cases and 25 deaths since the pandemic began.
Scientists are doing genome sequencing to see if they are variants and also to see if they match any infected passengers, said COVID-19 Minister of Response Chris Hipkins.
“New Zealand kept COVID-19 better contained than almost any other country,” said Hipkins of the nation that closed its international borders and introduced strict social distance at the start of the pandemic.
“But, as we have always said, there is no risk.”
Wired from posts