Wellington:
New Zealand reported a breakthrough Thursday in tracing the supply of a Covid-19 outbreak that plunged the nation into lockdown, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying it should really assistance “stamp out” the virus.
Health officials have been attempting to decide how an Auckland man contracted the coronavirus this week, ending a six-month run of no neighborhood situations in New Zealand.
Tests showed the man had a version of the Delta strain located in Australia, and Ardern mentioned investigations narrowed down the origin to a particular person who arrived from Sydney on August 7.
She mentioned the traveller had been in quarantine and hospital because touching down, indicating the virus had not been in the neighborhood as extended as initially feared.
“We believe we have uncovered the piece of the puzzle we were looking for,” Ardern told reporters.
She mentioned acquiring the outbreak’s supply also elevated the “ability to circle the virus, lock it down and stamp it out”.
Case numbers grew by 11 overnight to a total of 21, she mentioned.
Ardern ordered a 3-day national lockdown — New Zealand’s initial in 15 months — when the initial case emerged on Tuesday, with Auckland and nearby Coromandel facing restrictions for a week.
“We’re all prepared for cases to get worse before they get better, that’s always the pattern in these outbreaks,” she mentioned.
But she mentioned there have been grounds for cautious optimism “because we believe it wasn’t here for long before it was found”.
The infected traveller arrived from Sydney on a so-known as “red zone” flight, arranged to bring back New Zealanders stranded when Wellington suspended a trans-Tasman travel bubble due to several outbreaks in Australia.
The particular person tested positive two days later and was hospitalised a week just after that.
Officials mentioned it was nonetheless unclear how the virus spread into the neighborhood and 1,000 close contacts of positive situations have been becoming assessed.
A choice is due Friday on irrespective of whether the 3-day lockdown will be extended or finish by Saturday.
‘Covid zero’ strategy
New Zealand has adopted a policy of eliminating the virus in the neighborhood, rather than containing it, which has resulted in only 26 deaths in a population of 5 million.
Neighbouring Australia has been pursuing a related “Covid zero” approach, but is struggling to include outbreaks of the Delta variant.
Health authorities on Thursday urged mass Covid testing for an complete Outback town in far western New South Wales, exactly where an outbreak that started in Sydney two months ago is spreading.
The location is grappling with Australia’s initial substantial outbreak in Aboriginal communities, with specialist military well being teams deployed this week to increase sluggish vaccination efforts.
Early in the pandemic, Wilcannia’s roughly 750 residents place up indicators on the town’s limits asking travellers not to quit — fearing the virus could obliterate an currently vulnerable neighborhood, exactly where more than 60 % recognize as Indigenous.