The seven new corona cases in New Zealand, which have put the country back into a strict national lockdown since Tuesday, are related to the record outbreak in neighbouring Australia. This is shown by research into the genetic code of the virus.
All schools, shops and businesses in New Zealand were closed on Tuesday, except for supermarkets, pharmacies and medical centres.
The Australian state of New South Wales had a record number of 633 local infections on Wednesday, despite the strict lockdown that has been in force in the city of Sydney since the end of June. New Zealand, in turn, identified six new cases on Wednesday after being rocked by one infection on Tuesday. That infection was the first confirmed corona case in the country since the end of February. It concerns the extra contagious Delta variant.
Australia, with a population of 25 million, and New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, have long enjoyed great success in their fight against the coronavirus. However, they did this mainly through an extremely strict border policy. For example, Australia has kept its borders hermetically closed since March last year, with a few exceptions.
And only New Zealanders returning home are allowed to enter New Zealand. They must also be quarantined in a hotel for 14 days after arrival. Until the lockdown was introduced on Tuesday, which will certainly remain in force until Saturday, New Zealand was one of the few countries in the world where there were hardly any domestic corona measures.
But the current infections pose a risk. Because in New Zealand, only 17 percent of the population has been vaccinated to date. In Australia, too, only 27 percent of Australians over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated so far. About half of the adult population has had at least one shot. In New Zealand, only 26 people have died from the coronavirus so far; in Australia, 960 people.