New Zealand has announced its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections in 102 days, prompting the country’s prime minister to issue a stay-at-home lockdown order for the country’s largest city.
New Zealand has announced its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections in 102 days, prompting the country’s prime minister to issue a stay-at-home lockdown order for the country’s largest city.
Jacinda Ardern said four cases had been detected in a single family in Auckland from an unknown source.
“After 102 days, we have our first cases of Covid-19 outside of managed isolation or quarantine facilities… While we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned and prepared for it,” she said.
In a statement on its website, the country’s health ministry said today’s case is of a man in his 20s who had returned to New Zealand from Melbourne on 30 July.
The ministry said the man was in “managed isolation” at a hotel in Auckland and tested negative on his third day there, but tested positive for coronavirus on day 12.
He has been transferred to a quarantine facility in Auckland.
There is one new case of #COVID19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand today.
It has been 102 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source. Read more at https://t.co/wJiwvObGNApic.twitter.com/enOlzulLAT
— Ministry of Health – Manat Hauora (@minhealthnz) August 11, 2020
There are currently 22 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, all in managed isolation or quarantine facilities.
New Zealand, with a population of five million, has won widespread praise for its effective handling of the coronavirus since closing its borders on 19 March.
New Zealanders are enjoying a near-normal, pre-coronavirus lifestyle with no social distancing and spectators allowed at sports and cultural events – but with the border strictly controlled and all arrivals required to spend 14 days in quarantine.