Wellington Oct 4 (BUS): New Zealand on Monday abandoned its strategy to stamp out the coronavirus, eased some COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in its largest city, Auckland, and will instead look to live with the virus while controlling its spread.
The Pacific nation was among the few that cut COVID-19 cases to zero last year and remained largely virus-free until an outbreak of the highly contagious delta type in mid-August thwarted efforts to stem transmission, it said. Reuters.
“With this outbreak and delta going back to zero, it’s very difficult,” Ardern told a news conference.
“This is a change in the approach we’ve always done over time,” she said. “The Delta outbreak has accelerated that shift. Vaccines will support it.”
Health authorities reported 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total in the current outbreak to 1,357. The majority of cases are in Auckland, which has been on lockdown for nearly 50 days.
Amid mounting pressure, Ardern said her strategy was never to have no cases, but to aggressively eradicate the virus. She said the strict lockdown will end once 90% of the eligible population is vaccinated.
“Obviously a long period of tight restrictions didn’t get us zero cases. But it’s OK … Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines. Now we’re doing it. So we can start changing the way we do things,” she said.
People in Auckland will be able to leave their homes to connect with loved ones outdoors from Wednesday, with a limit of 10 people.
Early childhood education will return and people can also move around for entertainment, but retail, hospitality and offices will remain closed.
Ardern said the remaining restrictions in Auckland would be eased in phases.
MI