WELLINGTON – New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Saturday that the country’s largest city, Auckland, is going into a seven-day lockdown from early Sunday morning after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin has come to light.
This comes two weeks after Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents plunged into a rapid three-day lockdown when a family of three was diagnosed with the more transmissible British variant of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Health officials, who could not immediately confirm how the person became infected, said the genome sequence of the new infection was underway.
The patient developed symptoms Tuesday and is considered potentially contagious since Sunday, officials said. The person has attended several public places during that time.
“On this basis, we are in the unfortunate but necessary position of protecting Aucklanders again,” Ardern said, announcing the closure.
Health authorities were trying to find out if the new case was related to the earlier cluster from February, now at 12 infections.
The lockdown, with Level 3 restrictions, allows people to leave home only for essential errands and essential work, Ardern said. Public locations remain closed. Restrictions in the rest of the country will be tightened to level 2 restrictions, including restrictions for public gatherings.
New Zealand, one of the most successful developed countries in controlling the spread of the pandemic, has seen just over 2,000 cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
A major Twenty20 cricket clash in Auckland between New Zealand and Australia, scheduled for Friday, will be played in Wellington without crowds, New Zealand Cricket said.
The new restrictions also hampered the yacht race of the America’s Cup Event, which was due to start in Auckland Harbor on 6 March. America’s Cup Event said on Twitter that it “worked through the implications.”