The authorities of New Zealand confirmed 13 new local infections by Covid-19 in various places in the city of Auckland, the most populated in the country, and linked to the four cases detected on Tuesday after the nation reached 102 days without finding the virus in its territory.
Among the newly infected is a student, three workers from a freight transport center and seven relatives of these, as well as a worker from a loan institution and a relative of the latter, the New Zealand Director General of Health said on Thursday , Ashley Bloomfield.
All cases of local transmission are linked in some way with the four members of a family who tested positive two days ago, while the authorities try to find out the unknown source of the infection within the country.
“What we know so far is that the pattern of the genome sequence of the new cases looks more like (the strain of) those from the UK and Australia,” Bloomfield said during a press conference without providing further details on the inquiries.
Bloomfield also confirmed today a new imported case: a woman from the Philippines who is in a quarantine center for international travelers, so the country accumulates since the beginning of the pandemic 1,238 infections, including 22 deaths, of which 36 cases remain active.
The New Zealand government, which was praised internationally for its management in the face of the pandemic, unexpectedly reported on Tuesday the existence of four cases of unknown origin of Covid-19 in Auckland and ordered the confinement for three days (until midnight Friday) of the 1.7 million inhabitants of the city.
PRIME MINISTER WARNS “SERIOUS SITUATION”
The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardernsaid today that the growth of the numbers shows “the seriousness of the situation”, after ordering the day before the total confinement of all centers for the elderly and imposing measures of social distancing throughout the country.
“Remember that things get worse before they get better”, said the prime minister, insisting that her government’s plan from the beginning of the pandemic is “to act early and firmly.”
Ardern’s cabinet will decide tomorrow whether to extend the restrictive measures according to the evolution of the situation.
TRACKING THE ORIGIN
The New Zealand authorities try to detect the origin of the virus, which is believed to be in the Americold merchandise freeze center in Auckland, where one of the members of the first infected family works.
Americold’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Richard Winall, told the Australian network today ABC that although two cases have recently been detected at the plant in the Australian city of Melbourne, its warehouse does not transport goods to Auckland.
Winall also pointed out that the Auckland warehouse receives goods from 15 countries, including Australia, China and the United States.
For his part, profesor Shaun Hendy, from the University of Auckland, commented that it is likely that the virus was introduced into the country by a traveler from abroadhe told the New Zealand network TVNZ.
“If the family (whose cases were reported on Tuesday) had contact with an imported case (not detected), then there may be about 25 people infected and in the worst case, 100,” he stressed.
The New Zealand government, which imposed lockdown across the country in March, when it had about 50 cases of Covid-19 among a population of 4.8 million, managed to return to normality in early June after supposedly eliminating to the virus.
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