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New Zealand will remain at its current level of Covid-19 restrictions for another week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, urging the public to stay the course of the county’s “cautious” approach to quelling the virus.
“New Zealand has followed a plan that has worked,” he said, referring to the strict and early shutdown of the country by his government in March when New Zealand coronavirus cases began to rise. “This has saved lives, but it has also meant that our economy has been able to be more open in a more sustained way than almost any other country in the world.”
The restrictions in Auckland, which include a 10-person limit on social gatherings, would remain in place for another week, until September 21, Ardern said Monday. He had previously met with his cabinet about Covid-19 protocols.
The softer rules for the rest of the country, where no community transmission has been recorded, will also remain in effect until Sept. 21, when they will be scrapped if case numbers remain contained, Ardern said. At present, social gatherings outside Auckland are limited to 100 people.
Throughout the country, he added, physical distancing on airplanes or public transport will no longer be necessary, with immediate effect; previously, all travelers had to leave empty seats between them. Masks are required by law for all passengers.
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, has slowly lowered its restrictions after a resurgence in community transmission of the virus there in August. A period followed in June in which no cases of Covid-19 were reported in New Zealand, and the country largely returned to normal, aside from strict border regulations.
The new outbreak in Auckland, whose source remains unknown but has led to 57 cases, once again plunged the city into a second and strict lockdown. A cluster of cases in the city was still creating new cases of the virus on a daily basis, Ardern said.
Ardern defended the ongoing protocols for the country in comments Monday. “You only need to look towards our shores to see the alternative,” he said. “As we see great second waves globally, ours has been relatively small and contained.”
The rules that New Zealanders had followed “have kept us safe, saved lives and helped us move the economy faster than most other countries in the world,” added Ardern.
His political detractors have at times criticized the prime minister for being overly cautious at the expense of the economy.
“The global economic outlook is weak, but continuing our phase-out strategy based on strong and well-targeted public health measures allows economic activity in New Zealand to resume… earlier than in many other countries around the world,” Ardern said.
The prime minister, who faces an election on October 17, was widely praised abroad, and garnered record approval ratings in New Zealand, for her strategy of a strict and early shutdown in March and April that appeared to have beaten the virus. for a while.
But sticking to the “patient” path of easing restrictions slowly took courage on Ardern’s part, analysts said.
“It takes a lot of determination to defend your position, and particularly in a politically charged environment with an upcoming election,” Dougal Sutherland, of the Victoria University School of Psychology in Wellington, told the Guardian.
Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago, said: “You have to be very patient at this stage where virus controls are gradually being lowered.
“I think most people in New Zealand understand the enormous benefits of becoming virus-free and we had that experience a few months ago.”
New Zealand has recorded a total of 1,447 Covid-19 cases, with 24 deaths. Three people are hospitalized, two of them in intensive care.
There are currently 96 people with the coronavirus, 39 of them imported cases. All of those people are in quarantine in isolation facilities run by the government.
Ardern’s revision of restrictions next week could send Auckland to a lower alert level, expanding the numbers allowed at social gatherings to 100. And the rest of the country could once again experience a complete lift of coronavirus protocols. .
Sutherland, the psychologist, said that while New Zealand’s restrictions weren’t particularly severe, the continued, low-level uncertainty could be exhausting.
“It is arguably a bit more exhausting now than during the confinement,” when the rules were clear, he said. “It feels like I have to be vigilant all the time … ‘Are those people too close? Do we have to wear a mask here? Do I have to log in? ‘”
“It takes energy to ignite,” he added.
