New Zealand and Australia extended lockdown due to outbreaks with Delta variant of coronavirus

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Friday that the entire country would remain confined until August 24. in response to the spread of a small outbreak of COVID-19 detected this week in the city of Auckland.

Ardern, globally recognized for its management in the face of the pandemic with rapid and early containments, ordered a quarantine for seven days in Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula, and for three days for the rest of the country, after reporting the First local contagion of COVID-19 in New Zealand in six months.

This Friday, the New Zealand authorities recorded 11 infections with the delta variant, which has 31 community infections, including three in Wellington.

This is the first time in this outbreak that cases have been detected outside Auckland, the most populous city in New Zealand, and this is why the Ardern government decided that the whole country is confined until next Tuesday.

“We don’t know the magnitude of this delta epidemic. We must continue to be careful “Ardern said at a press conference in Wellington, referring to this delta variant outbreak which has been linked to the COVID-19 crisis in Australia.

New Zealand, with around 5 million inhabitants, has more than 2,900 confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, including 26 deaths and 52 active cases.

New Zealand authorities stepped up their vaccination campaign last week, which started last February with frontier workers and began in late July to inoculate doses of Pfizer to the general population.

The Executive intends to end the vaccination campaign before the end of the year to reopen its borders, closed in March 2020, from the first quarter of 2021. thanks to an individualized plan that takes into account the risk of the country of origin of the international traveler and his vaccination status.

For its part, Australian authorities announced on Friday that they will again extend Sydney’s lockdown for another month due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the most populous city in the country due to the emergence of the delta variant in the middle of the year.

Australia, which tends to apply strict containments, continues to record hundreds of cases a day despite a long lockdown in Sydney, which began on June 26 and was scheduled to end on August 27.

This Friday, New South Wales has recorded 644 local infections and 4 deaths, mostly in southwest and western Sydney, where twelve towns will be subject from Monday to a nighttime curfew and a one-hour outdoor exercise limit.

Authorities in New South Wales have also announced the imposition of the compulsory use of face masks outdoorsExcept for people who play sports statewide, which has confined rural areas until the end of the month.

The Head of Government of the State of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, announced this Friday at a press conference in Sydney that the police “will have additional powers to maintain compliance” with the restrictive measures, which include ordering people to isolate themselves in their homes.

For its part, the neighboring state of Victoria reported 55 local COVID-19 infections this Friday, the majority in the city of Melbourne, confined for the sixth time until September 2, as well as the Australian Capital Territory, which includes Canberra, by outbreaks with the delta variant.

In other states or territories, restrictive measures, mainly on internal movements to prevent entry of the coronavirus from sources of contagion.

Australia, which vaccinated 25% of its population over 16 years with the full schedule, accumulates more than 42,000 infections, including 975 deaths, since the start of the pandemic.

The Australian government hopes to vaccinate a 70 and 80% of its population over 12 years old out of a total of 25 million inhabitants to avoid confinement and reopen its international borders, closed in March 2020.

(With information from EFE)

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