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HEALTH-VIRUS-NEWZEALAND
New Zealand goes on lockdown for ‘fighting chance’ against virus
WELLINGTON, March 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – New Zealand will impose a four-week
lockdown in a bid to smother coronavirus infection rates and avoid the mass
fatalities seen elsewhere in the world, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said
Monday.
Ardern said the South Pacific nation was fortunate its infection numbers
remained relatively low, with 102 cases and no fatalities in the population
of about five million.
But she said the latest data showed COVID-19 was now being transmitted
between New Zealanders, rather than just being brought in by overseas
arrivals, meaning radical action was needed.
Otherwise, she warned the number of cases would double every five days.
“If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated and tens of
thousands of New Zealanders will die,” Ardern told reporters.
“The worst-case scenario is simply intolerable,” she said. “It would
represent the greatest loss of New Zealand lives in our history and I will
not take that chance.”
She said a nationwide lockdown was “a simple but highly effective way to
constrain the virus that gives it no place to go and will give our healthcare
system a fighting chance”.
Ardern said that New Zealand over the next 48 hours would move into COVID-
19 alert level four, the top rung of the government’s emergency response plan
unveiled Saturday.
It means schools and non-essential businesses will shut down and New
Zealanders will be ordered to stay at home for the next four weeks.
The declaration also gives the government sweeping powers to impose
rationing and requisition facilities, as well as mobilising the military to
help enforce the lockdown.
Ardern acknowledged the move would create massive economic and social
disruption but responded “this will save lives”.
She urged New Zealanders to follow self-isolation rules and support each
other.
“Please, be strong and be kind,” she said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0900 hrs