New Zealand imposed a nationwide lockdown this week over one case of COVID-19, sparking outrage from residents and business owners over rules some locals described as an outrageous overreaction.
“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern put the nation into a three-day lockdown after the discovery of the first community case of Covid-19 since February,” reports Bloomberg News.
“The snap lockdown will begin at midnight tonight as authorities rush to identify the source of a single infection in largest city Auckland, Ardern said at a news conference Tuesday in Wellington. While genome sequencing has yet to be completed, the case is assumed to be the highly infectious delta variant,” adds the news outlet.
BREAKING: New Zealand will enter a nationwide lockdown today over a single Covid case https://t.co/0shrynn8KE pic.twitter.com/w0zXtDIOIA
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) August 17, 2021
“Delta has been a game-changer, we’re responding to that,” Ardern said. “The best thing we can do to get out of this as quickly as we can is to go hard.”
“Going hard and early has worked for us before,” added the Prime Minister. “We want to be short and hard, rather than light and long.”
New Zealand’s lockdown is described by government officials as “Alert Level 4.” Restrictions apply to all schools, public places, and most businesses. People are urged to wear face masks when leaving the house. Only stores providing “essential services” can stay open.
To date, 26 people in New Zealand have died from COVID-19.
Read the full report here.
