A couple of days ago, New Zeeland announced the first case of community transmission in the island country.
The decision to enter lockdown came as a surprise for many since there have been few cases in New Zeeland since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019. A week ago, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announced that the country would enter lockdown for a week due to the one case of SARS-CoV-2 infection detected in Auckland.
Media reports mention the lockdown will be extended
According to several media reports, the New Zeeland Prime Minister decided to extend the lockdown until the end of August. The decision came after 35 community infections have been reported. Tests revealed the infections were with the Delta strain. The strain that originated in India is highly contagious, and it is responsible for many outbreaks worldwide. To ensure there are no more cases of infection that have not been reported, authorities in the island tested around 3% of the population in the last week.
Lockdown in Auckland might extend
The priority for the New Zeeland Government is to stop the spreading of the new coronavirus, and if more cases surface in the following days, it might be the case that the lockdown gets a new extension. New Zeeland residents seem to remain skeptical about the Covid-19 vaccines. Around 20% of the country’s population is fully inoculated, and the Delta variant could cause a lot of damage. During the lockdown, residents need to remain at home and only buy essential things such as groceries and medicine. Australian neighbors seem to disagree that lockdowns are the most efficient measure against the Delta variant. The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison declared that once a country has 80% of its population fully vaccinated, the borders need to open and that lockdowns only slow down the virus but do not stop it.