New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, on Sunday, had ordered the city of Auckland to go into a three-day lockdown after three unexplained cases of coronavirus emerged.
On Tuesday, Ardern announced the lockdown would be lifted by midnight Tuesday and that rest of the nation would go back to level one restrictions. Ardern said she did not believe the transmission is widespread as the new cases were minimal and results of testing wastewater in the city were negative. The level three lockdown announced on Sunday which required schools and businesses to be closed was the nation’s first in six months. The lockdown on Sunday was announced after the mother of the family that does laundry for airlines at a facility near the airport tested positive, The Guardian reported. The other members of the family— the father and the daughter too, tested positive for the virus. However, there isn’t much information as to how the mother might have contracted the virus.
The latest cases, who tested positive on Wednesday, were siblings attending a high school in southern Auckland. More than 1,500 students attending the school would be able to return to classes only a week after all the pupils and teachers test negative for the virus. Auckland would move from tier three to tier two lockdown under the nation’s four-tier lockdown system.
New Zealand, thanks to the strict lockdown and social distancing measures it followed had reported that it was free of COVID-19 in May 2020. The country had however reported new cases in late January. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, in the meantime, told Reuters, scientists are carrying out genome sequencing to see whether they are variants.
Ardern announced that mask-wearing would be mandatory. Steps like prompt testing of the reported cases and contact tracing have helped keep the spread minimal.
