Covid-19: Outlaws new source, NZ admits it cannot get rid of the coronavirus!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: New Zealand, the country to have launched a “zero-tolerance” strategy last year to contain the pandemic, only to find itself embarrassed as the contagion returned, has admitted that it cannot get rid of the coronavirus which has mutated multiple times, the latest being its Delta variant.
Interestingly, the disease is now believed to have spread among some groups that keep away from the police and authorities. They include criminals and homeless people who continue to shift their dwellings, according to media reports.
The latest outbreak has now grown to over 1,300 cases, with 29 more detected on Monday itself. A few cases have been found outside of Auckland.
The media reported that New Zealand’s government has finally acknowledged what most other countries did long ago: It can no longer completely get rid of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a cautious plan to ease lockdown restrictions in Auckland, despite an outbreak there.
Since early 2020 when the pandemic broke out globally, Auckland had pursued an extraordinary zero-tolerance approach to the virus through strict lockdowns and aggressive contact tracing.
Until a few months ago, this elimination strategy worked well for the low-population nation of just 5 million, which had reported only 27 virus deaths.
While other nations faced mounting death tolls and disrupted lives, New Zealanders soon returned to workplaces, schools, and stadiums, safe from any community spread.
But all that changed when the more contagious Delta variant somehow escaped from a quarantine facility in August after a traveler returning from Australia brought the virus back into the country.
Despite New Zealand going into overdrive with the strictest form of lockdown after the first local case surfaced in 2020, they found it inadequate to crush the outbreak entirely.
PM Ardern said that seven weeks of lockdown restrictions in Auckland had helped keep the outbreak under control.
“For this outbreak, it is clear that long periods of heavy restrictions have not got us to zero cases”, Ardern said. “Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines. Now we do, so we can change the way we do things.”
New Zealand began its vaccination campaign slowly compared to most other developed nations. Vaccination prices skyrocketed in August after the fresh outbreak began but dropped afterward.
About 65 percent of New Zealanders have had at least one dose and 40 percent are fully vaccinated. Among people age 12 and older, about 79 percent have had at least one shot.
As part of a new plan starting Tuesday, Aucklanders have been allowed to meet outdoors with those from another household. Early childhood centers will reopen and people will go to the beach.
The dates for a phased reopening of retail stores and later bars and restaurants will be decided later, according to media reports.
PM Ardern said the government intended to eventually transition to protecting vaccines, a change hastened by the Delta variant.
The government’s elimination approach was facing increasing criticism. Over the weekend, hundreds of people joined rallies protesting the lockdown.
Ardern said that most measures would remain in place to keep the outbreak under check, including exhaustive contact tracing and isolating those who got infected.
