By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
Auckland health officials reported a positive case of COVID-19 in a 58-year-old man who was unvaccinated–the first locally acquired case in six months. This prompted New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern to put the whole country on lockdown–7 days for Auckland and 3 days for the rest of the country.
Prime Minister Ardern said the government had to assume it was the Delta variant and said going for a hard lockdown was better than starting softer and gradually adding restrictions.
The government said on their COVID-19 website:
We need your support to protect New Zealand and eliminate COVID-19.
- Everyone must now stay home.
- From 11:59pm on Tuesday 17 August you can only leave home to shop for groceries, access necessary healthcare, get a COVID-19 test, exercise in your local area or go to work if you are working in an Alert Level 4 service, and you cannot work from home.
- Only make physical contact with those in your household bubble.
Do not worry, during this time you will be able to access all the essentials you need, including medicine and food.
The Auckland Regional Public Health unit is undertaking interviews with the case for contact tracing purposes.
