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Summary
- Auckland has been shifted to Alert Level 1 but the government is being criticised for giving the decision late.
- Ardern wanted to confirm the results on new community cases before giving out the decision.
- US announced that it would make all adults vaccine qualified by 1 May.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern declared that coronavirus restrictions in Auckland would be reviewed and the city would move to Alert Level 1 on Friday.
The decision on lifting of COVID-19-related restrictions was made by the cabinet on Thursday. Yet, Ardern waited for half a day to announce the decision.
Auckland went through a strict lockdown of 7 days, which was levied after a community cluster of a more infectious UK variant of COVID-19 was found in the southern part of the city.
Ardern stated that COVID-19 would need a team effort and requested people to turn on their bluetooths and made their QR codes visible.
Delayed announcement on Alert Level 1
National Party leader Judith Collins criticised the delay in the announcement of the lifting of the lockdown. In response, she called the decision as preliminary one and was contingent on further data results of the COVID-19 tests done.
Ardern stated that the decision was conveyed a bit late as she wanted to look at the results of the last day - 12 tests before the announcement.
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She stated that she was expecting that there were no community cases overnight as that would have completed a full 14-day transmission cycle since the last community case was reported. However, if the new cases come up, the government may have to review its decision.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield also expressed his satisfaction saying the community cluster had been contained. She urged Kiwis to continue scanning in and keep track of wherever they go to keep COVID-19 at bay.
NZ’s Vaccine plan
Phil Goff Auckland Mayor urged Kiwis to get vaccinated early after community outbreaks in the city were found. NZ plans to vaccinate 2 million Kiwis within 4 months.
Border workers and healthcare workers will be on the government’s priority to get vaccinated. COVID-19-affected people with higher risk of infection, elderly with health issues in South Auckland, people living in care settings, would be next in the line to get vaccinated.
ALSO READ: PM Ardern announces rollout schedule for COVID-19 vaccine
Kiwis above the age of 70 followed by those 65 and above will get vaccinated in May. The general population will be administered the vaccine in July.
The NZ government has ordered 10 million doses from Pfizer, enough to vaccinate the country’s population of 5 million.
US’s progress on vaccinations
The US has also offered hope to Americans by fast-tracking the vaccination process.
On March 11, the US President Joe Biden announced that he had planned to make all adults eligible for getting the vaccine by 1 May and would bring the US closer to normalcy by 4 July. Just few hours before his announcement, Biden had signed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill to help and support the US in its fight against COVID-19.
He also noted that the country was already past 1 year since COVID-19 first hit the country and resulted in the deaths of over 530K Americans. He urged Americans to co-operate and follow general guidelines to slow the virus spread in the US.
