India records 63 thousand new cases
A new outbreak of "Corona" spread in New Zealand, amid calls for a delay in the elections
New Zealand authorities are trying to trace the source of the new outbreak. Father
Yesterday, New Zealand health officials said that a new outbreak of the new Corona virus is widening, with a record number of new cases reaching 13, after the country was able to eliminate the virus early, which raises doubts that the general elections will be held on time for this month. Next, India recorded more than 63,000 new cases of Coronavirus.
After New Zealand overcame the pandemic this year, and 102 days passed without new infections recorded, the sudden return of the disease in Auckland city, last week, prompted the authorities to speed up imposing a general isolation in the country's largest cities.
Yesterday, the New Zealand authorities warned their citizens not to trust information that has not been verified. The country's director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, told the media that health officials were able to link 12 new cases to a family in Oakland who had tested positive for the virus, last Tuesday. The remaining case was revealed at the border.
New Zealand Health Minister Chris Hipkins said the rumors circulating on social media about a family member in Auckland were being investigated and were false.
He pointed out that "despicable slanders" on the Internet could be deliberate misinformation.
He said that the rumors "indicate organization, being a deliberate act of spreading misinformation," and he urged New Zealanders to think twice before re-publishing unverified information.
With these new infections, the number of active cases in New Zealand increases to 69, which strengthens the conservative opposition’s position to postpone the general elections scheduled for September 19, which opinion polls indicate that the Labor Party led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will win.
The opposition National Party also wants the polls to be postponed, hoping that Ardern, which has been praised for ending the pandemic, will lose some of its luster as soon as the hardships caused by the lockdown of Auckland begin to appear.
Yesterday, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, called for the postponement of the general elections, in light of the sudden resurgence of the "Covid-19" disease in the country, which increased pressure on Ardern to postpone the vote.
Peters, the leader of the New Zealand First Party, said in a message to Ardern that the resurgence of infections in Auckland last week - after the country had been free of new coronavirus infections for 102 days - weakened the ability to hold "free and fair elections" on September 19.
Peters proposed October 17 and November 21 two alternative dates. He had handed the government over to Ardern's Labor Party through a coalition agreement after the 2017 elections, in which neither the National Party nor the workers achieved a majority. Ardern is expected to reject the delay, but said she will make a decision in this regard today.
Neighboring Australia is also fighting a resurgence of the virus in its two largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, but there are signs of the disease receding.
And the state of Victoria announced the extension of the state of emergency after the death toll from the Corona virus exceeded 300 cases.
And the "Bloomberg" news agency quoted the state's chief minister, Daniel Andrews, as saying that the state of emergency would be extended for a period of four weeks until September 13th.
And Andrews warned against complacency with the decrease in infections, and said that the measures of the fourth stage of the closure are successful, adding that the numbers of infections are going in the right path.
He explained that citizens of the state of Victoria do not have "the luxury to undo the lockdown measures."
This comes at a time when the Indian Ministry of Health announced yesterday that more than 63,000 new cases of Coronavirus have been recorded.
This brings the total number of cases to two million and 590 thousand and 501 cases.
"NDTV" quoted the ministry as saying that 944 deaths from the virus had been recorded.
The state of Victoria has announced an extension of the state of emergency after the death toll exceeded 300.