New Zealand extends lockdown due to Delta-Telam variable coronavirus outbreak

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Prolongation of confinement next Monday To combat the outbreak of the delta type of coronavirus that emerged last week in Auckland, the capital, after six months without local infections in the country.

After a meeting with his cabinet, Ardern said extending confinement, which expired on Tuesday, until August 31 in Auckland and until Friday in the rest of the country is the “safer option” while waiting for the infection to peak.

“The delta variant is ahead and we had to catch up with it as fast as we could,” Ardern said, but “I don’t think we’ve reached the peak of this outbreak,” after which cases start to drop. news agency.

The Prime Minister indicated that 35 new infections were discovered during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 107 since the outbreak began, and that about 13,000 people who had contact with infected people will be examined.

“The Delta variant is ahead and we had to catch up ASAP”“

La nacin . review, one of the developed countries with the slowest vaccination rate, It has been recognized worldwide for its effective epidemic management In cases of early and rapid confinement.

This weekend, the minister in charge of pandemic management, Chris Hepkins, acknowledged that the delta variant is a “dramatic game-changer” and makes current measures look “less appropriate.”

New Zealand authorities last week accelerated a vaccination campaign, which began last February with the most exposed workers, but did not extend to the general population until the end of July.

The government intends to complete the vaccination of the target population before the end of the year It reopens its borders in the first quarter of 2022 which closed in March 2020.

New Zealand’s archipelago, with a population of about 5 million, has accumulated around 3,000 cases and 26 deaths from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, earning it praise abroad for its management.

however, Yesterday, the country realized that the spread of the most contagious type of delta threatens its “zero Covid” strategy.