New Zealand COVID-19 cases fall for the second day amid blockades

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People wear masks while exercising during a shutdown to curb the spread of an outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 26, 2021. REUTERS / Fiona Goodall

  • Daily cases of COVID-19 fall to 49 on Tuesday
  • The nationwide closure works, says Prime Minister Ardern
  • Auckland will remain closed for another two weeks
  • Police set up checkpoints on the outskirts of Auckland

WELLINGTON, Aug. 31 (Reuters) – The New Zealand government reported on Tuesday that new COVID-19 cases fell for a second day, to 49, amid the country’s tight closure last week. outbreak this month.

Except for a small number of cases in February, New Zealand was primarily free of coronavirus for months, until an outbreak of the Delta variant imported from Australia prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order a rapid closure across the country on August 17th.

The total number of outbreak cases is 612, with 597 in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and 15 in the capital Wellington.

The declining number of daily cases indicates that social restrictions are reducing the spread of the highly infectious variant of Delta, Ardern said at a news conference.

“We have a second day where our numbers have dwindled. We want the tail of this outbreak to be as short as possible,” Ardern said.

About 1.7 million Aucklanders will remain in strict level 4 closure for two more weeks, while restrictions for the rest of the country will be reduced slightly from Wednesday. Read more

Police set up checkpoints on the outskirts of Auckland to ensure that no non-essential movement was allowed in the city.

Police also said they had arrested 19 people on Tuesday following the nationwide anti-lockout protest.

There are now 33 people in hospitals from Delta’s latest outbreak, said health director general Ashley Bloomfield, with eight cases in stable condition in intensive care.

“It’s worrying to see that six cases of the outbreak are less than a year old,” he said

But he added that current public health measures are holding back the spread of the virus and that cases will continue to dwindle.

The Ardern closures, along with the closure of the international border from March 2020, were credited with its reduction to COVID-19.

However, the government now faces questions about a delay in the deployment of vaccines, as well as about rising costs in a country that is heavily dependent on the immigrant workforce.

So far just over a quarter of the population has been completely vaccinated, the slowest rate among the rich nations of the OECD grouping.

Report by Praveen Menon; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christian Schmollinger

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