New Zealand extends nationwide lockdown for 4 days

ANKARA

New Zealand’s government on Friday extended its nationwide COVID-19 lockdown for the next four days after the country reported 11 new infections, state-run media said.

Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the extension means that there will be more time to assess how much of the country has been affected.

The decision came after health authorities confirmed the first case of the Delta variant in a traveler who arrived in the country from the Australian state of New South Wales earlier this week.

"We just don't quite know the full scale of this Delta outbreak. All in all this tells us we need to continue to be cautious," Radio New Zealand quoted Ardern as saying.

"It's much better to assure ourselves now .... than allowing the virus to spread easily," she added.

On Tuesday, New Zealand authorities put the entire country on lockdown level 4 after the first locally transmitted COVID-19 case was reported in the community since February.

Under level 4 restrictions, everyone must stay home and businesses will be closed except essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies.

"We are also asking people to just wear a mask as they leave their home generally. Remember people have got the virus just by walking past someone," said the premier.

Last September New Zealand lifted all restrictions across the nation, and there were no new cases reported for seven months.

But during the past 24 hours, the country reported 11 more cases in Auckland and Wellington, bringing the total cases in the current outbreak to 31.

Since the outbreak began locally in 2020, New Zealand has reported 2,968 COVID-19 cases and only 26 deaths in a population of about 5 million.

To protect people from the deadly virus, so far 1.6 million people have gotten their first vaccine dose, while 963,219 have been fully vaccinated, according to Health Ministry data.

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid