New Zealand imposed a snap three-day lockdown Tuesday after identifying a single case of locally transmitted Covid-19 suspected to be the Delta variant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. Ardern said New Zealand, which had not recorded any infections in the community for six months, could not take any chances with the “game changer” Delta strain.
“We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance,” Ardern said in a televised national address.
The New Zealand leader cited Australia’s struggles to contain the highly transmissible variant for her “short, sharp” response after a 58-year-old Auckland man was diagnosed with coronavirus from an unknown source.
We are better to start high and be cautious, then move out as soon as we are comfortable doing so, than to start low and be in that phase (lockdown) for much, much longer,” she said.
“You only need to look at Australia to see the alternative.”
The initial plan is for New Zealand to remain in lockdown for three days from Tuesday night, with Auckland and the nearby Coromandel area facing the restrictions for a week.
Officials said a major factor behind the strong response was the fact that the Auckland case has no obvious connection to the border or managed isolation.
“This case was identified in Auckland but is a national issue,” director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.
Auckland has previously been forced into three brief periods of lockdown since an initial eight-week national state of emergency at the beginning of the pandemic last year.
The most recent stay-at-home orders in the city of two million ended in March.
Officials earlier Tuesday outlined details of unrelated virus cases found at a border quarantine facility in Auckland that showed how easily the Delta strain spreads.
An investigation found three people sharing a room were infected by a Delta case staying across the corridor after their doors were both open at the same time for just three to five seconds.
“It really does highlight how this virus is continually evolving and how vigilant we all need to continue to be,” quarantine chief Brigadier Rose King said.
In other news – List of all Men actress Thuli Phongolo is suspected to be dating
Actress Thuli Phongolo is one of the hottest faces (and bodies) in the game. That is one of the main reasons that she has erroneously been linked to so many famous men.
Over the years, rumours have flown about Phongolo dating everyone from Eric Macheru to Duduzane Zuma. This despite the fact that Phongolo has never officially been linked to anyone. Learn more
Source: IOL
