At 10 o'clock on Tuesday night all mobile phones in New Zealand have emitted at maximum volume the alarm signal sent by the Government of Jacinda Ardern, long and strident beeps, which ring even though the phone is silenced, accompanied by the following message: “Positive covid cases have been detected in a house in the Auckland region. If you live in Auckland, stay home. "
In an urgent press conference, the Prime Minister announced the immediate confinement of the most populous city in the country and its surroundings, a measure that affects more than 1.66 million people. Bars, restaurants, non-essential shops and public centers are forced to close, as are all educational centers (in New Zealand August falls in the middle of the third school term). In addition, citizens are asked to work from home and companies where this is not possible to rigorously apply the two-meter distance between people.
With this confinement, in principle of only three days, the New Zealand government wants to prevent the appearance of a possible outbreak of covid at all costs. Just this week the country celebrated the milestone of exceeding 100 days without any case of the virus among the population. A good streak that has been broken with the detection of four positives in the same family from South Auckland.
The prime minister has asked the inhabitants to stay home to cut the transmission chain: "Act as if you have covid, and as if the people around you have covid." And she added: "Please do not run to the supermarket tonight ... There is no reason to rush out to make any purchases tonight." A plea that many citizens have ignored. Supermarkets that are open late in Auckland have experienced the same scenes of chaos that suffered in March with the first lockdown. Among the panic-bought products there will be masks: for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic the Government recommends their use when the sufficient distance cannot be maintained.
The return of the covid is alarming news for New Zealanders, who until now enjoyed a life very similar to the pre-pandemic times. The government managed to eliminate community transmission on June 8 and has kept the country's borders closed since March. Until this Tuesday, the only cases of the disease (22) were of people who had returned to New Zealand and are in quarantine.
It is precisely this factor - that the borders are tightly closed - that puts Jacinda Ardern in a bind. The prime minister enjoyed great popularity for her management of the covid, but now she cannot explain how the virus has managed to escape from quarantine hotels and has crept back into the population. In recent months there have been some incidents with citizens who have circumvented police surveillance and have left the hotels. The opposition accuses the Government of being responsible for the failures that have allowed the new incursion of the virus.
When COVID entered New Zealand earlier this year, Ardern put in place a plan to eradicate the virus that has been praised by the World Health Organization. The disease has only caused 22 deaths in the country. The Labor leader is at stake much more this time, because in just five weeks general elections are held in New Zealand. Not only does she need to stop the virus for the good of the country, but also if she wants to be re-elected as prime minister.
Information about the coronavirus
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