After more than three months without a single case of community transmission, New Zealand’s winning streak came to an abrupt end this month when a new wave of infections was identified in Auckland.
By Nikita Soni
New Zealand is the only country to have gone 102 days without recording a single locally transmitted case of COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the world. However, on August 11 the country reported that four members of a family in Auckland tested positive for the virus, without any identifiable source of infection. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wasted no time in placing the 1.5 million people in Auckland in level three of a four-tier alert system for at least 12 days.
Strategic actions
New Zealand confirmed its first case on February 28, when a woman in her 60s who had returned from Iran to Auckland on February 26. The country was able to successfully slow down the pace of transmission, before eliminating the virus in June.
In mid-march, the country closed its borders to foreign travellers and made people coming, home quarantine for 14 days. An intense lockdown and physical distancing proved highly effective at rapidly eliminating the virus. “Go hard, go early,” was Prime Minister Ardern’s message on the lockdown strategy.
Before the lockdown was implemented, emergency text messages were sent to New Zealanders with a clear explanation of what the next approach would entail. New Zealand entered a level 3 lockdown in late March, in which non-essential businesses were closed, domestic air travel was banned, and all events and gatherings were cancelled. After two days, the country progressed into a much-stricter lockdown (alert level 4), where people were urged to maintain contact with only those they lived with.
New Zealand didn’t have sufficient testing and contact-tracing capacity to contain the virus, but it worked hard to ramp up emergency health services and fared far better than most countries in the pandemic.
The fact that the island is relatively isolated and has a small population helped New Zealand’s pandemic response. As of August 18, the country has a total of 1643 cases (1293 confirmed and 350 probable cases) and 22 deaths.
Experts note that the older generation has borne the brunt of COVID-19 in New Zealand. The elderly have not become critically ill in greater numbers, but also all those who died from the coronavirus infection were senior citizens, shows data.
The impact of the pandemic has been felt across sectors, especially on international tourism due to the imposition of border restrictions. In March 2020, international visitor arrivals dropped by 54 percent compared to March 2019, which were predominantly from Europe and mainland China. Also, Air New Zealand announced that it would reduce its long-haul capacity by 85 percent and its personnel by 30 percent in response to the declining demand and revenue in the aviation sector.
The country’s general election has been postponed to October 17, 2020.
