This photo shows an empty highway during a nationwide lockdown in Wellington.
Wellington, New Zealand:
New Zealand admitted its ambitious “Covid zero” elimination strategy may no longer be viable on Sunday as an outbreak of the virulent Delta variant continued to spread.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins reported a further 21 cases in a virus cluster that emerged in Auckland last week, ending a six-month run with no local cases and triggering a national lockdown.
Hipkins said Delta’s highly transferable nature made this outbreak harder to control than others, raising “big questions” about its elimination strategy.
“The magnitude of the contagiousness and the speed with which the virus is spreading has put a strain on our system, despite the best preparations in the world,” he told TVNZ.
New Zealand’s widely acclaimed response to Covid-19 – which has resulted in just 26 deaths out of a population of five million – revolves around eliminating the virus from the community.
It has relied on strict border controls backed by tough lockdowns when cases have occurred, but Hipkins said Delta could force a reconsideration.
“(Deltas) like nothing we’ve had to deal with before in this pandemic,” he said.
“It changes everything. It means all of our existing preparations start to look less adequate and raises some pretty big questions about the future of our long-term plans.”
Neighboring Australia has also adopted a “Covid-zero” strategy and is similarly frustrated as Delta cases continue to rise.
The outbreak in New Zealand has underscored the slow rollout of vaccinations and has led to allegations that the government has become lax following the early success of the pandemic.
Only about 20 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in the developed world.
National Opposition Party spokesman Chris Bishop said the outbreak had exposed a lack of urgency in Wellington’s vaccine plans.
“The complacency and inability of the government to guarantee the delivery and delivery of the vaccine has left us all with ducks, completely vulnerable to the Delta variant when it inevitably entered the community,” he said.
Another opposition figure, ACT party leader David Seymour, said Hipkins could not use the Delta variant as an excuse for the current failures.
“We’ve known about Delta since December, what has he done in the meantime?” he asked.
Hipkins said elimination remained a top priority for the ongoing Delta outbreak, which now has a total of 71 active cases, 65 of which are in Auckland and six in Wellington.
The national lockdown will end late Tuesday, although Hipkins indicated Auckland could face further restrictions even if they were lifted elsewhere.
“If I were an Aucklander I would definitely prepare to stay at home a little longer,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
