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New Zealand’s first outbreak in 102 days sees Auckland in lockdown

Auckland will be placed into “Level Three” restrictions after four people from one family in the city contracted COVID-19

COVID-19 has once again broken out in New Zealand for the first time in over 100 days and has prompted the nation’s government to put its largest city into a strict form of lockdown.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Tuesday that four people in one family from South Auckland were found to have all contracted the coronavirus.

These are the first new cases of the locally-acquired coronavirus after following New Zealand going 102 days without any domestic transmission on the virus.

In response, the city of Auckland, on New Zealand’s North Island, will be placed in “Level Three” lockdown restrictions from midday starting on Wednesday.

This comes after New Zealand was announced to be no longer free of COVID-19 after health officials say two women who flew from London to see a dying parent had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Local residents are now being told by the country’s Prime Minister to “stay home to stop the spread” of the coronavirus, going on to instruct her nation’s people to “act as if you have COVID, and as if the people around you have COVID”.

Those who live within the city of Auckland are being encouraged to work from home for the time being and to only leave their houses for “essential movements”, which include such things as going to the supermarket or visiting a local park.

Announcing the restrictions will be in place for three days until midnight on Friday, Ms Ardern said: “One of the most important lessons we’ve learned from overseas is the need to go hard and go early.”

“And stamp out flare-ups to avoid the risk of wider outbreak.”

“As disruptive as it is, a strong and rapid health response remains the best long-term economic response.”

First outbreak in New Zealand after 102 days sees Auckland in lockdown
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern

“In line with our precautionary approach, we will be asking Aucklanders to take swift action with us.”

She added: “These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions on how to respond to it once we have further information.”

This comes after face masks will be made mandatory in Northern Ireland when indoors, after the R number, an important measurement of how quickly COVID-19 is spreading, rose in the region; The re-opening of pubs, which do not sell food, in Northern Ireland has also been postponed.

Earlier on Tuesday, a national newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, reported a retirement village within Christchurch, which is the largest city on the country’s South Island, had gone into lockdown after residents displayed symptoms of respiratory illness.

The milestone, which is based on a count by the Johns Hopkins University, and has been tracking the development of the pandemic, was reached in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Experts believe that the true figure of worldwide cases is much higher than the number reported due to testing limitations across the globe, as well as the fact that as many as 40% of those infected have no symptoms.

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

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