New Zealand will lift a three-and-a-half-month lockdown in the country’s largest city of Auckland in December by adopting a new coronavirus control strategyPrime Minister announced on Monday Jacinda Ardern.
He indicated that on December 2, New Zealand will apply a new response to Covid-19 that will seek to contain the contagious Delta variant rather than try to eliminate it completely.
The harsh reality is that delta is here and it is not going to go, “the president told reporters.
“No country has been able to eliminate the delta variant completely, but New Zealand is better positioned than most to deal with it,” he said.
The New Zealand’s response to the coronavirus relied on strict lockdowns, rigorous monitoring of the contacts of those infected and the border closure.
With this, it has had only 40 deaths in a population of five million, but the pressure has grown to lift the lockdown in Auckland, in force since August when the delta variant was detected.
Ardern initially planned to adopt the new system when the vaccination rate reached 90%, but set the date for December 2 even though the current level is 83 percent.
Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield said he is comfortable with the most important adjustment in COVID-19 policy since the start of the pandemic.
You can say that we are going to get to this phase in the best possible condition, “said Bloomfield.
“We have controlled the outbreak, summer is coming and we have high and increasing vaccination rates,” he added.
Ardern said that proof of vaccination will soon be required to enter some places, such as bars, gyms and restaurants.
Auckland currently remains isolated from the rest of the country but road barriers will be lifted on December 15.
New Zealand will maintain the quarantine requirement for those arriving from abroad, but Ardern promised to ease that requirement early next year.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx