MELBOURNE (Reuters) – A new outbreak of coronavirus in New Zealand is still growing, health officials said on Sunday, with the country having an early triumph over the pandemic recording 13 new cases and the general election of September in question.
After the virus contaminated earlier this year before it became a public health crisis and after 102 days without new infections, an abrupt recession last week in Auckland called for immediate closure of the country’s largest city.
Sunday’s numbers bring New Zealand’s total active cases to 69, delivering more ammunition to a conservative opposition that wants to delay a September 19 general election, opinion polls show Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern winning.
Ardern is expected to resist a resistance, but has said she will decide Monday.
Health Minister John Hipkins told a news conference on Sunday that the government was working to ensure adequate supplies of masks, which are currently recommended but not required.
“We could make it mandatory and spend a lot of time on enforcement, what we need here is a cultural acceptance among all New Zealanders,” Hipkins said.
In neighboring Australia, which has also struggled with a resurgence of the coronavirus in two of its largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, there were signs of a further downward trend.
New South Wales reported just five new cases, while Victoria, where masks were imposed in July after the state became the center of the country’s biggest outbreak, reported 279 new cases on Sunday, along with 16 more deaden.
The daily number of new cases this week has been well below the high of 725 on 5 August. Melbourne, the capital of the state, remains under a strict lockdown.
Speaking before Victoria announced her daily permit, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said the state still had a long way to go.
“But the signs now are that the trend is of progressive reduction,” Hunt told Sky News television.
He also said that the federal government is close to concluding a deal that would allow the production of a vaccine in Australia, probably in 2021.
“I am now, based on our best advice, really more optimistic,” Hunt said, without giving further details.
Report by Lidia Kelly; edited by Richard Pullin
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