WELLINGTON | New Zealand extended Auckland’s new confinement on Friday in order to give health authorities more time to contain and know the origin of the cases of coronavirus which has just reappeared in the Oceanian archipelago.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ordered the containment of Auckland, the country’s largest city until August 26, to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 which is so far of unknown origin.
Tests analyzing the genome of recent contaminations have shown that recent contaminations do not have the same strain as in previous ones.
“This suggests that this is not a case of the dormant virus (…), it seems new in New Zealand”, said Mme Ardern.
She also explained that these analyzes have not made it possible to establish a link with the cases of COVID-19 recorded among people from abroad systematically placed in quarantine on their return.
Since Tuesday, four members of the same Auckland family tested positive for the coronavirus, after a remarkable 102-day streak without local contamination, New Zealand has recorded around 30 new cases.
Faced with speculation that the virus could have arrived by freight, Mr.me Ardern acknowledged that its origin might never be found.
The Prime Minister, however, praised the speed with which this new epidemic was detected and was optimistic about the country’s ability to stop it.
“We don’t necessarily need to answer this question to contain and deal with this group effectively,” she said.
Mme Ardern was keen to salute Auckland’s 1.5 million residents who carry “a heavy burden” for the well-being of the nation.
She said “lifting restrictions now and seeing a potential explosion in cases is the worst thing we would do for Auckland and the New Zealand economy.”
Previously, Health Minister Chris Hipkins had reported two cases recorded in Tokoroa, 210 km south of Auckland, despite the lockdown.
Skin-deep population
However, he was optimistic about the possibility of containing the epidemic, because “at this stage, all the cases are linked, they are all part of the same center of infection based in Auckland”.
The prospect of a second wave of coronavirus troubled New Zealanders who now thought they were safe from the epidemic after more than three months without any cases.
Barbara Pond, a resident of Wellington, called the situation “heartbreaking”.
“I’m tired of hearing about COVID,” she said sorry.
“We’ve done so much to get rid of it and now every time you turn around it’s COVID, COVID, COVID.”
Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield has acknowledged that the population is on edge, while urging them not to express their feelings of frustration with the health workers who are at the forefront.
“We have had feedback from health workers, who are doing their best to provide tests to people, who are insulted and even physically attacked,” he said.
“This is totally unacceptable,” he added, refusing to give more details.
New Zealand, whose effective response to the first epidemic wave had been hailed by foreign countries, is following the same strategy as when it imposed a seven-week lockdown at the end of March.
Thus, it will place people declared positive in isolation, seek contact cases and carry out a vast screening campaign.
Mme Ardern said that in the past two days, samples have been taken from around 50,000 people.
The government has made testing mandatory for staff working at ports and centers where people are held in isolation after learning that most Auckland airport workers have never been tested.
The health minister has dismissed accusations that the border has not been sufficiently secured, while admitting that he would have liked “more tests” and “sooner”.
New Zealand has so far recorded just 22 deaths from the coronavirus on its soil for a population of 5 million.