Explainer | Why coronavirus emerges in clusters, and how New Zealand plans to eliminate outbreaks after lockdown

As New Zealand prepares to ease lockdown conditions from April 28, it can expect new clusters of infections to emerge

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said New Zealand will continue to pursue its goal of elimination with a strategy that differs from most other countries

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Medical staff administer pop-up coronavirus tests in New Zealand. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00am, 25 Apr 2020Updated: 7:07am, 25 Apr 2020

After four weeks of some of the world’s strictest lockdown conditions, New Zealand now records much higher numbers of people who have recovered from Covid-19 than new infections.

In its April 23 update, the Ministry of Health reported only three new cases – though another two people died, taking the death toll to 16. The total number of cases is 1,451, with more than a thousand people having now recovered from the illness.

As New Zealand prepares to ease lockdown conditions from April 28, it can expect new clusters of infections to emerge, as has been happening in northeast parts of China.

But it plans to continue using a combination of testing and contact tracing to stamp out the spread of Covid-19.

How new clusters can emerge – even with closed borders

New Zealand moves on to two weeks of level 3 lockdown from Tuesday, and people who cannot work from home will start returning to their workplaces, if they can maintain social distancing measures.

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