New Zealand is reinstating restrictions on the city of Auckland after three members of the same family tested positive for COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Sunday.
Send the news: New Zealand’s most populous city will close for three days on Sunday at 23:59. The rest of the NZ will not lock up, but social distance and other precautions will be reintroduced.
“Three days should give us enough time to gather further information, conduct large-scale tests and determine if there was wider community transfer.”
– Ardern’s remarks at news conference
- Scientists have yet to determine the origin of community affairs. But the mother works at the airport in the city, where newly returned New Zealand travelers pass through on their way to a managed hotel quarantine.
For the record: Auckland is entering level 3 restrictions under the NZ’s four-level warning level system, with people being asked to stay in their domestic “bubbles”. Meetings of up to ten were allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as funerals.
- Public spaces must be closed and only essential services such as pharmacies and grocery stores can be opened for personal contact, with distance measures.
The whole picture: This will be Auckland’s third lock. It last had restrictions in October after an outbreak in the city was limited. There is one nationwide exclusion below level 4 six weeks since the end of March 2020.
- The New Zealand government has decided not to impose any restrictions, despite having affairs in the community last month and last year.
- Ardern said the government is taking precautionary measures over the latest cases while genomic sequencing is underway, as some of the more virulent coronavirus strains have been detected in returned NZ travelers in hotel quarantine.
By the numbers: There are currently 47 active COVID-19 cases, of which 44 are in managed hotel isolation.
- A total of 1,974 cases have been confirmed since the pandemic reached New Zealand in March last year.
Remarkable: New Zealand will begin vaccinating coronavirus next week, with border staff taking the first doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine this Saturday.
Editor’s note: this article has been constantly updated with new details.