Faced with a risk of a resumption of the coronavirus epidemic, Auckland remains confined. It was the Prime Minister of New Zealand who announced this Friday, extending the confinement of the country's largest city by at least 12 days.
“The government has agreed to maintain the current measures for an additional 12 days, bringing (the containment) to a full two weeks in total,” Jacinda Ardern said. This increase in cases, until then confined to Auckland, has spread beyond the city, authorities have alerted.
102 days without contamination
Health Minister Chris Hipkins has reported 12 more cases of local transmission, and one probable case. Thirty cases have been recorded since the coronavirus began to spread again in the Oceania archipelago, after a remarkable series of 102 days without local contamination. Hipkins said two of the cases were recorded in Tokoroa, 210 km south of Auckland. This spread took place despite the containment that was imposed in Auckland. Police officers were assigned to control exits from the city.
The minister nevertheless wanted to reassure the authorities' ability to control the situation. “At this stage, all the cases are linked, they are all part of the same Auckland-based focus of infection,” he said, adding that the Tokoroa cases were quickly identified. "We have no example of a Covid-19 case outside of Auckland that is not linked to the source of contamination that we are treating".
It is a family of four who initially tested positive on Tuesday in the country's largest city. These were the first cases of local transmission of the coronavirus since the beginning of May. The origin of this contamination has not been identified. New Zealand has so far recorded just 22 deaths from the coronavirus on its soil for a population of 5 million. Its effective response to the first epidemic wave had been hailed by foreign countries.
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