New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, middle, and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, proper, speak to media in Wellington, New Zealand Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. As individuals in Auckland adjusted to a brand new lockdown on Monday, well being officers stated they’d discovered no proof the coronavirus had unfold additional locally, elevating hopes the restrictions may be short-lived.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A lockdown within the New Zealand metropolis of Auckland will finish at midnight, the federal government introduced Wednesday after concluding a coronavirus outbreak had been contained.
“This is good news,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated.
The nation’s largest metropolis was put into lockdown on Sunday after three unexplained instances had been discovered locally. It was the primary lockdown in six months in a nation which up to now has managed to efficiently stamp out the unfold of the illness.
The transfer to finish the lockdown got here as well being authorities stated the outbreak had grown by three instances to 6 in complete. But Ardern stated the extra instances had been to be anticipated as a result of they concerned shut contacts.
Ramped-up testing signifies the outbreak hasn’t unfold far. Laboratories processed greater than 17,000 particular person exams on Tuesday, authorities stated, they usually additionally examined wastewater samples, which got here again unfavourable.
“What this tells us is that we don’t have a widespread outbreak, but rather a small chain of transmission which is manageable by our normal contact-tracing and testing procedures,” Ardern stated.
The preliminary instances had been a mom, a father, and their 13-year-old daughter, who attends a neighborhood highschool. Health authorities stated the three new instances had been a highschool classmate, who was a detailed contact of the daughter, and two members of the family of the classmate.
