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After weeks of confinement, New Zealand appears to have achieved its grandiose goal of “eliminating” the coronaire, but the country is not yet celebrating.
In recent days, new cases of infection have been reduced to single digits and only one new positive test was reported yesterday. “This gives us confidence that we have achieved the goal of elimination, which has never meant absolute zero, but it means that we know where the cases are coming from,” New Zealand Health Director Ashley Bloomfield told CNN. a case, from April 1, in which the authorities are still investigating the origin of the infection.
The country of 4.9 million people is leaving “level 4” quarantine, lasting nearly five weeks, and Prime Minister Jassida Ardner described the measures as the strictest in modern New Zealand history.
Today, more than 400,000 citizens have returned to work and the economy is running at 75% again, according to Ardner. The downgrading of the measures to “level 3” means that New Zealanders will now be able to buy their food in a restaurant package and Weddings and funerals in a close circle of ten people..
Schools will reopen tomorrow for children up to 10 years old who cannot take tele-classes or have parents forced to return to work. Although New Zealanders will generally have to stay home, they are allowed to go shopping for essentials and exercise. After smoothing the measurements, they can even swim, surf, fish and hunting, provided safe distances are observed and the remaining social distancing measures are monitored.
A teacher at the Kaipara Flats School in New Zealand prepares to return a small number of students (GETTY IMAGES)
At this stage, public meetings are prohibited. and only if the measures are lowered to “level 2”, indoor events for a maximum of 100 people and outdoor meetings with a limit of 500 will be allowed.
Of the 1,472 people who tested positive for coronavirus, the country currently has 19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, while 1,214 (82%) have fully recovered. However, Arden calls on residents to be vigilant. “We are not done,” he warns.
How they did it?
New Zealand recorded the first case on February 28, almost a month after the United States. It is a relatively isolated island state with few flights and is centrally governed, without the US federal system. USA Or Australia.
The country followed a different tactic, conducting large-scale population tests quickly. Before the action plan was decided, statistical models showed that a possible spread of the virus in the country would be catastrophic.
On March 14, and although the country had only six cases, Ardner announced that anyone entering the country should be quarantined for two weeks. On March 19 (with 28 cases) the government prohibited the entry of foreigners to the country and on March 23 (102 cases) the universal closure was announced. “Decisive action and tough measures from the beginning have helped us avoid the worst,” he said.
As early as March 14, Ardner acknowledged that because New Zealand is a key station for routes to the Pacific Islands, the country also had a responsibility to protect its neighbors from the ocean.
««We don’t have many ICU beds compared to other countries. That’s why we reacted really fast, “explains University of Auckland microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. The country deliberately takes too long to make the measurements too easy, and even when everything seemed to be in full swing, Arden suggested a five-day extension. According to a Colmar Brunton survey, 87% of citizens approved of their government’s pandemic measures.
New Zealand also increased the pace of testing and you can now write 8,000 checks a day as Ardner said. To date, the country has 126,066 tests, while the United Kingdom, with a population 13 times higher, has performed 719,910.
The really positive indicator is the percentage of positive samples. Recently, the executive director of the WHO’s Extraordinary Health Programs, Dr. Mike Ryan, said that a good milestone for audits is the ratio of ten negative tests to every positive. In New Zealand, the ratio is 99 negative tests for each positive. While in other countries the R0 is around 2.5 in New Zealand, it is 0.4. Despite the encouraging evidence, Ardner insists that the fight against Covid-19 disease will continue until the vaccine is discovered.
Since tourism is New Zealand’s “heavy industry”, the pandemic is believed to hit the country’s economy hard. Although talks have begun to open the border with Australia, nothing has yet been decided. In the best case scenario, the authorities estimate that unemployment will rise to 13%. “We will do our best to make sure we face the economic consequences, as we have experienced the threat to health,” says Ardner. “With unity, quick support and mutual care.”
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