New Zealand's Covid-19 cases spread to capital Wellington, says report
WELLINGTON (REUTERS) – Two positive Covid-19 cases have been recorded in New Zealand’s capital city Wellington on Friday (Aug 20), Radio New Zealand reported, without revealing its source for the information.
The cases are part of the same family, the radio station reported. So far, all cases in the outbreak have been in Auckland and Coromandel region.
The government is due to decide later in the day on whether it would end or extend the snap lockdown declared earlier this week.
New Zealand recorded 11 new coronavirus infections on Friday, taking the total infections to 31 in the latest community outbreak that ended the country’s six-month, virus-free run.
Of the 11 new cases, eight are in Auckland and three are in Wellington. The three in Wellington had recently travelled to Auckland, the health ministry said.
Questions have grown about the government’s response to the pandemic given the country’s slowest vaccination rate among developed countries and the economic pressures of prolonged isolation.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, however, said that in the latest outbreak, the virus has not been in the community for long as authorities had linked its origin to a returnee from Sydney on Aug 7.
New Zealanders had been living without curbs until Ms Ardern ordered a snap three-day nationwide lockdown on Tuesday after a case was found in the largest city Auckland, the first in the country since February.
Ms Ardern, who shut the country’s borders in March 2020, had announced plans for a gradual reopening this month following pressure from businesses and public sectors facing worker shortages that policymakers fear will fuel inflation.
The new cases may delay those plans and are causing concern in the nation, which has struggled to get its population vaccinated.
Only about 23 per cent of its five million people have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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