New Zealand solves new COVID case 'puzzle' that forced country into lockdown

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a 'breakthrough' in tracing the Covid case that was reported on August 17.  The single COVID-19 case was reported on August 17 from Auckland, which prompted the Prime Minister to order a snap lockdown for seven and three days in parts of New Zealand. The health officials were instrumental to determine the source of the infection in the Auckland case.

In a breakthrough, the health officials have solved the 'puzzle' of the source of the single COVID-19 case in the country following six months of no community cases in New Zealand. The investigations indicated that the man, a non-resident traveler was infected with the Delta Variant found in Australia. He came in contact with another infected subject from Sydney who the former met on August 7. "We believe we uncovered a piece of the puzzle we were looking for," PM Ardern told at the press conference. 

Since the first case in nearly six months, the infections surged to 11 reports overnight. Following the uncovering of the source tracking, PM Ardern said that the success will help them "stamp out" the virus.

Cases grow despite NZ remained under snap lockdown

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a nationwide lockdown over a single Covid case from Auckland. The case was under examination to ensure the strain of the virus until today morning. As per reports, the 58-year-old man was infected with the Delta strain of the novel Coronavirus. The PM also informed that the man had been quarantined and received medical attention since the touchdown.

Ardern also warned citizens to remain vigilant following anticipation of more cases in the coming days. As per NZ official analysis, the recent Australian variant infection could touch 120. The reported case comes after 170 days of a brief break in community spread in New Zealand. "Cannot take any chances with the "game-changer" Delta strain," PM Ardern said during a press conference. The 3 and 7 days bunker has begun from 11:59 pm on Tuesday.

The country to remain under level 4 lockdown for another week

Citing Australia's struggle to curb the highly transmissible Covid cases, Arden said during the conference, "We are better to start high and be cautious, then move out as soon as we are comfortable doing so than to start low and be in that phase (lockdown) for much, much longer." This is the first-ever level 4 lockdown in the island country. The country has entered into two snap lockdowns previously to manage COVID-19 cases. The island country has fared pretty well during both the COVID-19 waves with just 26 fatalities and 2,926 cases in a population of 5 million in the last two years. However, with the addition of the 11 new cases the count, as of August 19, stands at 2,936.

With inputs from AP

Image: AP/PIXABAY (representative)