Prime Minister Says Coronavirus Currently Eliminated In New Zealand
CORONAVIRUS IN NEW ZEALAND – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated that New Zeland had “currently” eliminated COVID-19.
New Zeland stated that they had stopped community transmission of the virus. However, officials have cautioned against being complacent. Moreover, they emphasized that reports does not indicate a total end to the virus spread.
According to a report from BBC, New Zeland would begin to open non-essential business, health care, and education activities to its residents. But, most people are still required to stay at home and adhere to social distancing.
We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives
New Zeland had previously reported some of the lowest accounts of COVID-19 among affected countries. As per the report, the country had reported fewer than 1,500 confirmed coronavirus cases with 19 fatalities.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield stated the low figures gives hope to their goal of eliminating the virus. Although he warned that “elimination” didn’t mean there would be no new cases.
Moreover, he emphasized that it ” it does mean we know where our cases are coming from”.
The Prime Minister also stated that there was no widespread undetected community transmission of the virus in New Zealand. But, she urged residents to remain vigilant to keep it that way.
New Zealand attributed its flattening number of cases due to imposing some of the toughest restrictions on travel. Furthermore, these restrictions were imposed early on during the pandemic when it had a few dozen cases.
Along with this, they implemented strict quarantine of all arrivals to the country and conducted extensive testing and contact tracing operations. Also, the country’s remote location all favored its residents when the virus broke out.
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