COVID: Amid Delta cases, Judith Collins says slow vaccine rollout in New Zealand

Recently, New Zealand has been reporting COVID-19 cases due to the outbreak of the Delta variant. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a three-day countrywide lockdown in New Zealand after a single instance of Delta variant was discovered in Auckland. However, Opposition National Party leader Judith Collins has stated that the "extremely slow rollout of the vaccine" has left the country vulnerable.

Delta variant outbreak in New Zealand 

Collins further added that the country had no choice but to go into lockdown, reported NZ Herald. She stated that the government took a lot of time in ordering the vaccine which was potentially the cause of the slow rollout of the vaccine. She informed that other countries were now preparing to give third vaccine doses to people while the NZ government began to raise purchase orders for the vaccine on January 29. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 18, acknowledged that the number is expected to keep growing, especially after some of those infected spent time at church, school, casino and hospital, according to AP. Ardern also announced people will have to wear masks in supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies during strict lockdowns. The announcement of the New Zealand PM came a day after the government imposed a strict lockdown of at least three days for the entire country and at least seven days in Auckland and Coromandel after identifying the first infection. 

The lockdown has been announced in New Zealand just after a single instance of the Delta variant was discovered in Auckland. Ardern said that the variant found in New Zealand was seen in Australia. They are yet to find out how and when it came to New Zealand. According to New Zealand Health Ministry, the country has reported 20 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases in New Zealand is 55. 

IMAGE: AP/RepresentativeImage

Inputs from AP