WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand officials are investigating the possibility that their first COVID-19 cases were imported by cargo in more than three months, as the country’s largest city fell into the lockdown again on Wednesday.
PHILO PHOTO: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, 28 February 2020. REUTERS / Loren Elliott
The discovery of four infected family members in Auckland led to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to quickly take up rapid restrictions in the city and take social distancing measures across the country.
The source of the outbreak has shocked health officials, who said they were sure there had been no local transmission of the virus in New Zealand for 102 days.
“We are working hard to put pieces of the puzzle together on how this family is infected,” said Ashley Bloomfield, director general of health.
Studies were zero in on the potential that the virus was imported by freight. Bloomfield said surface testing was on track at a cool store in Auckland, where a man from the infected family worked.
“We know the virus can survive for a long time in cool environments,” Bloomfield said during a televised conference.
The New Zealand unit of Atlanta, US-based Americold Realty Trust, a refrigeration storage specialist with operations in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Australia, as well as New Zealand, identified itself as the owner of the refrigeration shop.
Manic Director Richard Winnall of Americold NZ told the NZ Herald newspaper that the infected man had been ill for a few days and all employees had been sent home after tests.
FOOD PACKAGING
China has reported several copies of the coronavirus discovered in recent weeks on the packaging of imported frozen seafood.
The World Health Organization website states that there is currently no confirmed case of COVID-19 transmitted through food or food packaging. However, it also notes that studies have shown that the virus can survive up to 72 hours on plastic.
Residents of Auckland, home to about 1.7 million people, were just given hours to prepare for the return trip to Level 3 restrictions on Wednesday, which require people to stay home except for essential travel.
“Going hard, going early with lockdown is still the best response,” Ardern said. “Our response to the virus so far has worked … we know how to defeat it.”
The rest of the country was placed back in somewhat looser level 2 restrictions. The restrictions will initially remain in place until Friday.
Police deployed roadblocks to discourage a mass exodus from Auckland, while supermarkets slashed sales of some staple products amid a rush to the shelves. Long queues formed at COVID-19 test centers in the city.
Ardern said her cabinet will decide Friday on the next steps regarding restrictions.
FERRY GROUP
Two members of the infected family had visited tourist spots in the city of Rotorua, driving about three hours south of Auckland while they were symptomatic, and a third had gone to work at a finance company in Auckland, also as symptomatic.
Bloomfield said four people who had contact with the family were considered likely cases. More than 200 people have been identified as family contacts and health officials were ready to test tens of thousands of people in the coming days, he added.
Ardern also delayed an important step after a general election on September 19, and halted the dissolution of parliament, which usually runs campaigns, until Monday.
A decision on whether to postpone the actual question-and-answer session would be announced for Monday, Ardern said, as the country’s major opposition party canceled its launch of the weekend’s campaign and called for the November elections to be postponed. .
In a planned announcement that coincided with the return to lockdown, the central bank surprised markets by expanding its bond-buying program and kept out the prospect of negative interest rates in an attempt to rebuild the virus-abused economy .
“Given the continuing uncertainty about health, there remains a downside risk to our base economic scenario,” said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
With around 1,500 confirmed cases and 22 deaths, New Zealand’s exposure to the virus remains good among many other developed nations.
Report by Praveen Menon; Written by Jane Wardell; Edited by Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry
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