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New Zealand’s summer of unrestricted movement and social interaction was abruptly interrupted by three new cases of Covid-19 in the community.
After an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern placed Auckland’s largest city in a three-day confinement period and imposed social detachment requirements for the rest of the country, while authorities rushed to find the source of new infections. Genomic sequencing shows that they are the most virulent strain of the virus in the UK, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.
“This result reinforces the decision to take quick and robust measures around the most recent cases to detect and eliminate the possibility of any further transmission,” said the ministry.
It is a pandemic reality check for the South Pacific country, which has not had to impose any restrictions since August last year, when an outbreak in the community pushed Auckland into a three-week blockade. The new limitations in activity may undermine the country’s strong economic recovery and will be another setback for the establishment of a free movement zone with Australia, which is also struggling with a new outbreak in Victoria.
Police officers check vehicles at a checkpoint near Auckland, New Zealand, on February 15.
Photographer: Fiona Goodall / Getty Images
Australia and New Zealand have had their international borders closed since the start of the pandemic and require residents to return to isolate in quarantined hotels.
The move from Auckland to Alert Level 3 means that people should stay home and work remotely, if possible. Schools, kindergartens, shops and public places are practically closed, and meetings are restricted to 10 people. The rest of New Zealand was raised to Alert Level 2, requiring social distance, but schools and businesses remain open. Meetings are restricted to 100 people.
The restrictions will have an impact on sporting events, including the next round of the America’s Cup sailing regatta scheduled for Wednesday, and prevent Auckland residents from traveling outside the region.
The new cases are from a South Auckland family – mother, father and daughter. In addition to visiting the local stores, two of the people traveled to the city of New Plymouth, on the North Island, last weekend, where they visited various tourist attractions.
There were no additional community cases reported on Monday. Health officials said they had identified 10 close contacts of the infected family, six of whom returned negative tests with four pending results.
It is not yet clear how the family contracted the virus, but the woman works for LSG Sky Chefs, an airline catering company, where she handles clothing.
Ardern said that several scenarios are being investigated. One is that the virus came from a passenger in transit, while the other is that it came from international crews, who in some cases have their uniforms cleaned at the facility where the infected woman works, she told Radio New Zealand on Monday. But the most likely scenario is human-to-human transmission, Ardern said.
The new restrictions are initially in effect until midnight on Wednesday, but will be reviewed daily.
(Adds the most recent health update in the ninth paragraph.)