On August 17, when the Delta variant was first identified in Auckland, New Zealand, the government immediately went to great lengths to eradicate the virus and not have to abandon its “zero Covid” policy. . Seven weeks later, the finding is final. The battle is lost. The country records a few dozen new cases every day, the highest figure since April 2020. After the Australian states of New South Wales and then Victoria, the archipelago gave up on Monday to eliminate the virus.
“It is clear that a long period of severe restrictions did not allow us to return to zero”, thus noted, on October 4, the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. As of August 17, it had placed the main city of the country under a bell, reducing exit permits to a minimum and closing schools and all non-essential businesses, in the hope that strong and rapid measures would allow it a new times, to rid its territory of SARS-CoV-2. But faced with this strain described as “Tentacle”, his government could only note its failure. “Eliminating the virus was important because we didn’t have a vaccine, now we have it, so we can start to change the way we do things,” put the elected Labor representative into perspective.
However, with only 52.7% of New Zealanders over the age of 12 having a complete vaccination schedule (as of October 9) and a target of 90%, the shift towards the end of the crisis will be first of all in small steps in order to avoid any congestion of hospitals. Will the country then resolve to live with the virus? To open its borders, closed since March 2020? The authorities have not yet answered these questions, which divide in the small archipelago of five million inhabitants who have made its elimination strategy a model, recognized around the world for its effectiveness. Not only has New Zealand only suffered 28 deaths since the start of the pandemic, but its people have been able to live, most of the time, in a country where the virus was not circulating.
Possibility of leaving the territory
Across the Tasman Sea, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ruled. Australia, which currently faces some 2,500 new cases daily, will not remain isolated from the world a minute longer than necessary. At the end of July, his government presented a four-phase transition plan, the progress of which will depend on vaccination rates.
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