New Zealand polishes up after Covid-19 case
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Tuesday that the country had returned to strict containment after a new case of coronavirus was reported in Auckland, the country’s largest city, for the first time in six months.
New Zealand will be fully contained for three days from Wednesday, while Auckland and Coromandel, the coastal city where the infected person has also resided, will be contained for seven days. So schools, places of worship, administrations and all businesses will have to close and only essential services will remain operational. “The best thing we can do to get out of this situation as quickly as possible is to do our best,” Jacinda Ardern told a news conference.
New Zealand on Tuesday recorded, for the first time in six months, its first case of the locally sourced Covid-19 virus, forcing the authorities to take measures to prevent a possible spread of the pandemic. #AFP pic.twitter.com/rSQ6PbCP34
– Agence France-Presse (afpfr) August 17, 2021
Back to containment
The previous case of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand dates back to February.
The New Zealand dollar was down 1.5% at $0.6926 when the close was announced. A return to containment may influence monetary policy decisions to be announced by the National Central Bank on Wednesday. So far, markets expect New Zealand to be the first developed country to raise interest rates since the start of the pandemic.
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