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posted by martyb on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-can-the-rest-of-us-learn-from-this? dept.

New Zealand lifts lockdown as last coronavirus patient recovers:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced New Zealand will lift its coronavirus lockdown allowing a return to a nearly normal life for the country's five million people, as health officials reported that the final person known to have contracted the infection had recovered.

Making the announcement at a news conference on Monday, Ardern said the government would not let down its guard over the virus and promised to rebuild an economy that has slowed because of the global pandemic.

[...] It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported in New Zealand, and Monday also marked the first time since late February that there have been no active cases.

[...] Officials were eager to stress that the coronavirus remained a concern given the growth of cases elsewhere in the world. Borders would remain closed, Ardern said, describing them as the "first line of defence". Only citizens and residents, with some exceptions, are currently allowed into the country.

[...] Elimination did not mean eradicating the virus permanently from New Zealand, but eliminating "chains of transmission" for at least 28 consecutive days after the last infected person left isolation, which would be on June 15, the ministry said.

[...] Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation wipe out the disease, including its isolated location, along with leadership shown by the prime minister, who imposed a strict lockdown early on during the outbreak.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by driverless on Thursday June 11 2020, @05:16AM (4 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Thursday June 11 2020, @05:16AM (#1006184)

    When Sweden was not doing any sort of shutdown the conservative fools were claiming that's the correct model, but now the numbers are not adding up they've had to switch to somewhere else.

    The ones I know haven't switched, they've simply said the jury's still out on Sweden. Also, the jury's still out whether Covid19 is a real problem or not. By carefully avoiding setting any success criteria, "once we reach this many deaths we'll admit it's a problem", it's possible to stay in denial indefinitely because no matter how bad it gets the jury will still be out.

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  • (Score: 2) by Tokolosh on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:25PM (3 children)

    by Tokolosh (585) on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:25PM (#1006296)

    The jury is still out on New Zealand, Latvia, Viet Nam. This isn't over. The countdown for the second wave in New Zealand has started, and the clock is running.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 11 2020, @07:51PM (2 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday June 11 2020, @07:51PM (#1006556)

      You might be right, but our government listened to the advice of the people who have spent their lives studying this stuff, and acted accordingly. The opposition didn't politicise the science to their credit, and I know where I'd rather be.

      Oh, and part of their advice was to be nice to each other.

      • (Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Thursday June 11 2020, @10:07PM (1 child)

        by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Thursday June 11 2020, @10:07PM (#1006619)

        Overall I think we (NZ) have done well; we are at level 1 now; which is basically a fully open economy but with strict border controls.

        It will be interesting to see over the next year how the economy recovers; how the impact of basically no tourism and slowed international markets will be felt.

        --
        Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Friday June 12 2020, @12:01AM

          by driverless (4770) on Friday June 12 2020, @12:01AM (#1006671)

          It will be interesting to see over the next year how the economy recovers; how the impact of basically no tourism and slowed international markets will be felt.

          A long-standing problem with NZ tourists (meaning NZers travelling, not travellers to NZ) is that it's synonymous with "go overseas". I know various European cities far better than I do any NZ city except Auckland and Wellington. So given the limited travel options this could lead to a wave of NZ tourists travelling locally, which will help lessen the impact on the tourist industry. In terms of international stuff, we've always shipped everything in and out over long distances so it won't lead to too much change there. While the market slowdown will hit, I don't know if it'll be that bad for our particular primary industries. So there'll be a contraction of the economy, but probably not as dire as you'd think due to the reallocation of spending in other areas.