New Zealand is gearing towards full elimination of Coronavirus with no community transmission being recorded for some time now – By Prudence Wanza.
The country’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern said that the virus was currently eliminated with only new cases being reported in single figures continously and recording one case on Sunday.
Starting Tuesday, some non-essential business, Healthcare and education activities are set to resume.
However, health officials in the country have warned that it doesn’t mean that Coronavirus has fully ended in New Zealand. The PM said that most people will be required to remain at home at all times and avoid social interactions.
“We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives,” Arden said
New Zealand’s Director – General of Health Ashley Bloomfield stated that the improvement the country has made gives confidence that the disease can be eliminated.
” The low number of cases does give us confidence that we have achieved our goal of elimination…. elimination doesn’t mean there would be no new cases, but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from” He said
It is not over yet, Remain Vigilant
The Prime Minister Warned that despite the country nearing to win the war against Coronavirus there is need for all citizens to remain vigilant.
New Zealand has a total of 1,122 confirmed cases and 1,180 recoveries which means the country has a few active cases. Since the first case was recorded 19 people have succumbed to the disease.
Taking immediate measures since the outbreak of the disease might be attributed to the improvements in New Zealand.
First, it restricted travel and closed its borders, started enforcing quarantine of all arrivals in the country and brought in a stringent lockdown plus an extensive testing and contact tracing operation.
