Coronavirus: New Zealand loses Covid-free status again; Australian state eases restrictions
- New Zealand case comes day after PM Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory in ‘Covid election’
- State at epicentre of Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak announces an easing of restrictions
New Zealand announced on Sunday one new case of Covid-19 after three weeks with no known community transmission.
The country had previously declared itself Covid-19-free on October 8, after a second outbreak of the virus was contained.
At a hastily arranged weekend press conference, director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said the case involved a man who worked at Ports of Auckland and Taranaki and was being tested regularly.
The case had been caught early and the risk was contained, Bloomfield said.
“Because the person was tested on the day he was developing symptoms, the ministry of health was able to self-isolate close contacts, which is a good reminder to the rest of New Zealanders for best practice.”
At this point, officials had not been able to establish where the case had come from.
Bloomfield said the case was another reminder that Covid-19 was not going away any time soon.
“I know that the re-emergence of a case outside managed isolation may be unsettling for some people. We need to remain vigilant.”
The country also reported two imported cases of Covid-19, taking the country’s total to 1,530 cases, with 42 active cases.
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Ahead of the vote, Ardern – whose party won 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament – had dubbed it “the Covid election”.
She campaigned on her government’s success in eliminating community transmission of the virus, which has caused just 25 deaths in a population of five million.
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Meanwhile in Australia, the state at the epicentre of the country’s Covid-19 outbreak announced an easing of restrictions on Sunday, but left key sectors of the economy closed until next month to ensure community transmission is further curbed.
From midnight, the 5 million residents of Victoria state capital Melbourne, who have been under lockdown for more than 100 days, will be allowed to travel as far as 25km (16 miles) from their homes and time limits on daily exercise would be scrapped, state Premier Daniel Andrews said.
From November 1, the stay-at-home order will be completely lifted and retail and hospitality sectors will largely reopen. That time frame may be brought forward if case numbers continue to fall.
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As the US, UK and many European countries contend with a second wave, Victoria’s lockdown has demonstrated the effectiveness of tight controls. Case numbers have plunged from a daily peak of 687 on August 4, with new infections slowing to a trickle.
But the state premier has come under sustained pressure to ease restrictions, with the federal government saying the lockdown has risked people’s mental health and weighed on the national economy. Victoria is responsible for about a quarter of gross domestic product and the restrictions have deepened Australia’s first recession in almost 30 years.
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DPA, Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse
