Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement at a press conference late Tuesday night.
What We Know:
- This comes just after New Zealand celebrated 100 days without transmission of new COVID-19 cases. New Zealand now has four new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and twenty-three cases are in managed isolation. All of the previous twenty-three cases are travelers who have returned home to the country.
- The first new case has been identified as someone in their 50’s who had not traveled out of the country. All four of the new cases are within the same family, and more than one place of business is involved. Contract tracing is currently in progress. Close contacts of those who tested positive will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
- Starting at noon local time on Wednesday, August 12th, the city of Auckland went on level 3 lockdown until midnight on Friday, August 14th. Under level 3 restrictions, Auckland will require non-essential workers to work from home, while travel into the city is restricted to those who live in the area. The rest of New Zealand went on level 2 lockdown, which still allows people to attend work and school.
- Prime Minister Ardern described the need for the restrictions.
“These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions on how to respond to it.”
- Director-General of Health for New Zealand, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, noted the need for vigilance to defeat the virus, “This case is a wake-up call against any complacency that may have set in. We cannot afford to let this virus spread.”
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, New Zealand has recorded a total of 1220 cases and 22 deaths due to the virus.
