Coronavirus in New Zealand "Eliminated", This Is How They Handled It

This is how New Zealand handled Coronavirus Disease 2019 in their country.

CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 – A Pinoy nurse in New Zealand revealed how the country battled and won over against the deadly COVID-19.

Based on a previous report, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared from Alert Level 4 lockdown, it has been downgraded to Alert Level 3 and announced that New Zealand “currently eliminated” COVID-19. They will be going to open non-essential businesses, health care, and some education activities for the residents. However, they are still to strictly observe social distancing.

Accordingly, 1,122 persons got infected of the virus where 1,180 cases of it got recovered while 19 of them died. With this, a Pinoy nurse based in Auckland, Red Cerezo, shared what New Zealand has done battling the deadly COVID-19.

Alert Level 4 lockdown started on March 26 and employees are guaranteed to still be compensated despite of not going to work. The people are obedient and cooperative to this order from the prime minister.

Also, people adhere social distancing protocols which is why obedience and cooperation from the people resulted to the success of their battle. They have also implemented systematic grocery shopping which is ultimately for basic and essential needs.

“Sa supermarket, tulad sa Pilipinas, isa lang ang dapat mamili. Kapag nakita kayo na nag-uusap sa supermarket, maaari kayong palabasin kasi ibig sabihin magkakilala kayo,” he added.

Chinese-owned supermarkets employees also wear full protective gear as a safety measure. Moreover, during the first week of their lockdown, markets ran out of tissue paper and now, what’s running out are baking needs because it’s what most people in there are doing amid the lockdown.

And being a nurse at Auckland City Hospital, which is the equivalent of Philippine General Hospital in Philippines, their priority is contact tracing of the patients. Anyone with travel history are considered to be COVID-19 positive automatically and the people are always honest about their travel history and their condition.

This is why they haven’t recorded any death of a medical personnel as per PEP.