New Zealand going into lockdown as the country recorded her first positive case of Covid-19 after six months.
The lockdown was announced by New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern after the country’s first locally transmitted Covid-19 case in the community since February.
According to reports, New Zealand going into lockdown again with the positive Covid-19 case which was registered in the last 24 hours, in order to check the spread, even though the country have been slow in terms of vaccination.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, during a press conference, said that New Zealand going into lockdown after a 59-year-old man who was vaccinated, tested positive for the Delta in the city of Auckland.
Ardern said that Auckland will go into lockdown for a week while the rest of New Zealand would lockdown for the next three days.
Everyone must stay home and businesses are closed aside for essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies.
New Zealand was last under its most serious lockdown level a year ago, Ardern said.
“We are one of the last countries in the world to have the Delta variant in our community,” Ardern said. “We’re in the position to learn from experience overseas, and what actions work, and what actions don’t work.”
“Delta has been called a gamechanger — and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.”
New Zealand has been praised for its handling of the virus, which saw it close borders to almost all foreign nationals early, and impose strict state-run quarantines on incoming travelers.
That approach has seen it avoid the devastating outbreaks seen in other countries, and, prior to Tuesday’s announcement, life in the country had largely returned to normal. New Zealand has reported fewer than 3,000 Covid-19 cases and only 26 deaths in a population of about 5 million.
It is estimated that only 20% of the population is fully vaccinated in New Zealand.