New Zealand There have been 25 new cases of coronavirus, the largest daily toll reported by the country since the height of the initial outbreak in March and April.
Two cases were local and the rest were discovered at the border, including 18 injuries among Russian and Ukrainian fishing crews who arrived on a charter flight from Moscow days earlier.
The two new societal cases reported on Wednesday were Port operator connections His case was reported on Sunday. It was the first case of community transmission in New Zealand since September 25.
Wednesday’s figures confirmed the pressure on border management systems to contain the virus in a country, as daily life has largely returned to normal.
“Putting our cases right today, Spain announced about 48,000 new cases yesterday, which equates to about 4,000 new cases in New Zealand,” said Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General of Health. [by population size].
“We are not satisfied with the borders and all New Zealanders have to make sure that they are not satisfied with the community.”
New Zealand health officials said a total of 235 fishing crews arrived from Moscow on a flight chartered by a seafood company, with a stopover in Singapore during which they remained on board. It was the first of two scheduled trips for fishing workers scheduled to arrive in New Zealand from Russia – which has the world’s fourth largest number of Covid-19 cases.
By contrast, New Zealand has one of the lowest deaths in the world – 25 people have died – and fewer than 2,000 confirmed cases of the virus. Its success is attributed to one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March and April. All domestic restrictions imposed on the country have since been lifted.
Now, border controls are what stands between the isolated South Pacific island nation and a pandemic. Only New Zealanders and their families are allowed to enter the country and they must spend two weeks in quarantine, during which they are tested twice for the virus.
The exemptions allow essential workers to cross borders – among them are Russian and Ukrainian fishing crews. New Zealand’s chief health official said on Monday that workers were asked to self-isolate for 14 days before they left Moscow, and all had been tested before they left. Staff are staying in quarantine facilities at the Sudima Hotel in Christchurch.
Bloomfield said two people were prevented from boarding the plane after they tested positive. The other infections were picked up during an additional round of testing in Christchurch, New Zealand, where they were in government-run quarantine.
“The fact that we found these infections is that the system is perfectly functional,” Bloomfield said.
Bloomfield added that the crew are the only people staying at the hotel as they have been quarantined. People who work at the airport when passengers arrive, and those driving the bus they were on, will be tested for the virus.
Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago, said additional restrictions should be imposed on arrivals from countries with high Covid-19 numbers. Russia has recorded 1.4 million cases and 25,000 deaths.
“We can if we find, in those source countries, that they are not consistently working well, and that we may not accept travelers from those countries,” he said.
There are 56 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, 53 of them in government-run isolation facilities.
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