WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak that brought New Zealand’s largest city to a rapid close last weekend has involved the more transmissible British variant, health officials confirmed on Monday, the first time tensions have been detected locally.
Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a new three-day lockdown on Sunday after three new COVID-19 cases were detected in the city.
Genome sequences of two cases – all three are an immediate family – showed that it was the B1.1.7 variant. Authorities said the source of the case was still unknown and added that they were scanning international genome databases for a match.
“We totally seemed to be deciding to be extra careful because we assumed it would be one of the more transferable variants,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Facebook Live on Monday.
The closure of Auckland is the first in New Zealand in six months, after a loud shutdown early in the pandemic largely eliminated the local broadcast. The Australian Lowy Institute of nearly 100 countries has named the country the best performing country in an index based on the inclusion of the coronavirus.
The new outbreak prompted neighboring Australia to suspend an arrangement that allowed New Zealanders to enter Australia without a 14-day quarantine period.
New Zealand’s health department said on Monday there were no new cases of transmission by the community, but five in managed isolation facilities.
The country has reported a total of 2,330 confirmed and probable cases since the start of the pandemic, a fraction of those reported by other developed countries, including 25 deaths. Forty-seven cases remained active, health officials said Monday.
In Auckland, after the announcement of Sunday, long queues formed outside supermarkets as people tried to pick up goods before ordering that required them to stay home, except for essential shopping and work.
The COVID-19 warning for the rest of the country has been raised to level 2, with all gatherings limited to 100 people.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Peter Cooney and Jane Wardell)