Wellington:
New Zealand’s city streets had been largely deserted on Wednesday as the nation returned to life in lockdown for the initially time in six months in a bid to halt any spread of the infectious Delta variant of COVID-19.
New Zealand had been virus-totally free and living without having restrictions till Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered a snap 3-day nationwide lockdown on Tuesday right after a single case, suspected to be Delta, was identified in the biggest city Auckland.
Ardern on Wednesday confirmed the new case was the Delta variant and mentioned there had been now 5 confirmed circumstances in total, all linked to the original infection.
One of the new circumstances is a totally vaccinated nurse from Auckland Hospital.
“We have always had our way of responding and it’s go hard and go early, because it’s much better than going light and long and ending up in prolonged lockdowns,” Ardern mentioned in a video posted on Facebook.
The nation will be in level 4 lockdown, the highest alert level, for at least 3 days, though Auckland will stay in lockdown for seven days.
In the capital Wellington couple of folks ventured out in the city centre, which would usually be bustling with shoppers and workplace workers, though tv footage showed related scenes in Auckland.
Panic shopping for erupted right after the lockdown announcement on Tuesday, with folks stocking essentials at supermarkets in spite of repeated assurances from the government that there will be no shortage in supplies.
Businesses and schools scrambled to move on line.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson mentioned the government will reinstate a wage subsidy from Friday if the nation is nonetheless in lockdown.
The last reported neighborhood case of COVID-19 in New Zealand was in February. Its citizens have been living without having restrictions despite the fact that international borders have largely remained closed.
The nation has all round reported about 2,500 confirmed coronavirus circumstances and 26 connected deaths.
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