The New Zealand region of more than 100 days without a local transmission of the coronavirus is now over.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Tuesday that authorities have found four confirmed cases in one Auckland household from an unknown source, placing the country’s largest city under a three-day full lockdown: people will be asked to return home remain, while bars and many other businesses will be closed.
“These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have wide-ranging contacts so we can find out more about how this case came about and make decisions about how we respond to it. should respond when we have more information, “Ardern said at an almost-called news conference late Tuesday.
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New Zealand has recorded its first local transmission of the coronavirus in 102 days. (AP)
“I know this information will be very difficult to receive,” Ardern said. ‘We all hoped not to find ourselves in this position again. But we were also prepared for it. And as a team, we’ve been here before. ”
The new cases are the first local transmissions of the coronavirus in New Zealand in 102 days, according to the Associated Press.
Arden said people as part of the exclusion measures will ban people from traveling to Auckland unless they live there.
She said the rest of the country will be increased until Friday 2, which means mass gatherings will be limited to 100 attendees and people would have to distance themselves socially from each other.
Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the infections were confirmed after a person in his 50s went to her doctor on Monday with symptoms and was swabbed twice, both times testing positive. Six other people in the person’s household were then tested, with three more positive results.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has imposed a new lockdown on Auckland. She will be seen here during a press conference in December 2019. (AP)
CORONAVIRUS has infected more than 20 million people worldwide
“Importantly, the person has no history of foreign travel,” Bloomfield said, adding that the source of the infections remains unknown.
As of Tuesday, the only known cases of the virus in New Zealand were 22 travelers who had recently returned from abroad and were quarantined at the border.
The country has been praised worldwide for its virus response.
New Zealand initially got rid of the virus by setting up a strict screening system at the end of March, when only about 100 people tested positive for the disease. That stopped their spread.
Life then returned to normal for many people in the South Pacific nation of 5 million, as they attended rugby games in packed stadiums and sat in bars and restaurants without fear of becoming infected. But some had warned that the land had become itself.
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New Zealanders did not regularly wear masks, but authorities have urged people to buy them just in case.
The outbreak comes less than six weeks before New Zealanders have to go to the polls in a general election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
