It has now been 22 days since New Zealand recorded its last case of Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health. The latest ministry update indicates that the country remains on track to eliminate the virus in the following week.
According to the Ministry of Health, elimination does not mean eradicating the virus permanently. "Rather it is being confident we have eliminated chains of transmission in our community for at least 28 days and can effectively contain any future imported cases from overseas," the ministry said.
Although they have been Covid-19 free for 22 days, and had no active cases of the disease, New Zealand is still considered to have six open clusters. A significant Covid-19 cluster is when there are ten or more cases connected through transmission and who are not all part of the same household including both confirmed and probable cases. That is because a cluster isn't considered to be closed until there's been no new cases for at least two incubation periods (28 days) from the date when all cases have successfully completed isolation.
Out of the total 1504 confirmed and probable cases reported across the country, only 22 people have died, while the other 1482 are considered to have recovered.
As of Monday 8th June, New Zealand has finally moved to coronavirus Alert Level 1, this move to level one has come ahead of time with the government’s initial intention to make the move on 22 June. As a result, all restrictions on their citizens normal freedoms were lifted. Under these new rules, all schools and workplaces can open. Moreover, weddings, funerals and public transportation systems can resume without any restrictions. Despite, social distancing no longer being a norm, it is strongly encouraged by the state. However, the country's borders remain closed to foreign travellers, and rules remain in place requiring New Zealanders arriving from abroad to go through a mandatory 14-day period of isolation.
Writer: Siddhant Gupta
15/06/2020
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