New Zealand has announced that the entire country will be entering another lockdown after recording a single case.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is flexing her leadership skills by taking strong action on the nation’s first case in 6 months.
Needless to say, there’s a lot we’ve learned from the NSW government’s tediously slow response to Australia’s outbreak, where we’re seeing cases push up to 500.
According to New Zealand’s health department, the single case was identified in Auckland – the nation’s largest city. A subsequent investigation into its origins is currently underway.
So far, the lockdown is scheduled to last for 7 days.
It is still yet to be confirmed whether the case is a Delta variant.
New Zealand ministers met later yesterday to determine a response to the nation’s first community case since February 28th.
@NianticHelp now that the whole of New Zealand is in level 4 lockdown with stay at home orders will you please increase the pokestop distance again in the country?
— UmamiMonsta (@MonstaUmami) August 17, 2021
Of this, the health department stated yesterday that: “a hard and early response is the best tool to stamp out any potential spread and everyone in New Zealand is asked to stay calm, be kind and play their part while we gather more information on the potential case.”
New Zealand has a strong reputation for its handling of COVID since the pandemic began.
Auckland in particular underwent several brief lockdowns following an initial nationwide response which largely stopped the spread at the border.
Consequently, for a country of 5 million people, a mere 26 deaths have been recorded.
As New Zealand reports new Covid cases on the first morning of a snap lockdown, the world realizes that even semi-isolated island nations like NZ & Australia are subject to the Covid/Delta virus without pause.
— Charles Beale (@CharlesBeale11) August 17, 2021
Meanwhile, Australia is fast approaching the one-thousand mark, with a population only five times the size of New Zealand – oh God.
However, while NSW is finally catching up with the vaccine rollout, only 20 per cent of New Zealand’s population has taken the jab.
It seems like it’s a race between the two Oceania giants.
No further information about the case has been released yet.
