Three days lockdown in Auckland as new unexplained cases emerge
New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland will go into a three-day lockdown beginning just before midnight Sunday following the discovery of three unexplained coronavirus cases in the community.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the move after an urgent meeting with other top lawmakers in the Cabinet. She said they decided to take a cautious approach until they find out more about the outbreak, including whether the infections are of the more contagious variants.
Breaking: New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern announces Level 3 lockdown for Auckland for 3 days from midnight – the rest of NZ goes to Level 2
Comes after 3 members of an Auckland family tested positive for #Covid19 under unknown circumstances
‘We are going hard and early’ pic.twitter.com/T6LWl2tdIL
— Ashleigh Stewart (@Ash_Stewart_) February 14, 2021
The Level 3 restrictions will require everyone to stay home except for essential shopping and essential work, Ardern said, repeating the strict approach the country has taken over the past year in virtually eliminating the pandemic.
“We have stamped out the virus before and we will do it again,” Ardern told a news conference.
Officials said the rest of New Zealand outside of Auckland will also be placed under heightened restrictions, although will not go into lockdown.
The Case
an Auckland mother, father, and daughter caught the disease. Officials said the mother works at a catering company; that does laundry for airlines, and officials are investigating whether there is a link to infected passengers. Officials said the woman hadn’t been going aboard the planes herself.
Scientists are carrying out genome sequencing to see whether they are variants; and also to see whether they match with any infected passengers; COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.
“Three days should give us enough time to gather further information, undertake large-scale testing and establish if there has been wider community transmission,” Ardern said. “That is what we believe the cautious approach requires and it’s the right thing to do.”
“New Zealand has kept COVID-19 contained better than almost any other country,” Hipkins said. “But as we have kept saying, there is no such thing as no risk.”
New Zealand; with a population of 5 million; has reported a total of just over 2,300 cases and 25 deaths since the pandemic started.
