New Zealand Covid Update: Ardern dismisses criticism of elimination strategy after 68 new cases | New Zealand

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has dismissed criticism of her ambitious elimination strategy to eradicate Covid, as the country’s epidemic grows, saying the approach has saved lives and will continue to do so.

As of Thursday, the coronavirus outbreak increased by 68 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 277. A previously reported case was reclassified after being confirmed as a false positive.

Of the cases, 263 are in Auckland and 14 in Wellington. Many cases involve the Samoan community and are linked to a subgroup that met at the Assembly of God Church in Mngere.

The country is on lockdown nationwide as it grapples with the Delta variant outbreak. The decision to put the country in a Level 4 lockdown, the highest setting – came after a case in the community emerged last week.

Speaking on Thursday, Ardern said she was not concerned about the debate and comparison of Covid strategies from different countries, and added that expert advice indicates New Zealand should continue to pursue the elimination.

For me, and I’m sure for many others, the measure of success in this pandemic is not just what happens in August 2021. It is what has happened since February 2020, when Covid happened. in New Zealand.

So, and now, we had three goals: We wanted to save lives, and we did. We wanted to try to make people’s lives as normal as possible and even now we have had some of the shortest restriction periods in any country. We wanted to save people’s jobs in the economy. With an unemployment rate of 4% and an economy performing at pre-Covid levels, we’ve done it too.

Ardern said the goal was to move away from blockages, but that could only happen once the majority of the population is vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, 87,772 doses were administered, a daily record. A total of three million doses have now been distributed. Three-quarters of the population over 30 have now received a dose or are registered to receive one.

Genome sequencing linked the Auckland cluster to a returnee from Australia. It is not yet known how the virus was transmitted from the traveler, who was in quarantine, to the community, but a walkway and atrium at the facility are under investigation.

Health chief executive Dr Ashley Bloomfield told the NZ Herald on Thursday that a possible link had been made between the facility and a case in the Mngere sub-cluster, a development that could close the missing link in transmission of the virus. .

There are now 495 locations listed for potential exhibition, including schools, universities, hospitals, churches, bars, restaurants, airports, a casino and a rugby match. Over 24,000 close contacts have been identified across the country. During the August 2020 epidemic, 1,500 close contacts were identified.

Ardern said the increase in cases came as no surprise, but that in good news, of the more than 60 cases recorded on Wednesday, only three new places of interest were reported.

This tells us something really important: that people follow level 4 and that it was starting to reach infected people since the lockdown began.

The country is in a Level 4 lockdown until midnight Friday, with Auckland locked out until midnight Tuesday next week. Ardern will notify the nation of any changes to the lockout settings on Friday afternoon.

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