New Zealand's reputation as the country that beat coronavirus is in doubt as the country records new outbreak

tcolson@businessinsider.com (Thomas Colson)
·2 min read
new zealand coronavirus checkpoint

  • New Zealand is racing to contain a coronavirus outbreak in the city of Auckland, where 13 new cases on Sunday brought the country's total number of active cases to 69.

  • The country has been internationally praised for its response to the pandemic and had recorded zero new coronavirus cases for 102 consecutive days until last week, when a family of four all tested positive for the virus.

  • One family member is said to have become infected at a frozen storage facility where they work, and unwittingly passed it onto three other family members, who then spread it further.

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New Zealand's early success in containing the coronavirus appears to be in jeopardy after health officials reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of active cases to 69.

The country has been internationally praised for its response to the pandemic its "go hard and go early" strategy.

As a result, it had recorded zero new coronavirus cases for 102 consecutive days until a sudden outbreak in Auckland last week, which prompted a strict lockdown of the city.

All but one of the latest batch of cases have been linked to a single family, four of whom tested positive on Tuesday. The family, which comprises three adults and one child, is at an isolation facility in quarantine. They have now become the target of online abuse and threats, according to a Daily Mail report.

The family has now become the target of online abuse and threats,

One family member is said to have become infected at a frozen storage facility where they work, and unwittingly passed it onto family members, who then spread it further.

Of the 69 active cases, 49 are linked to the community outbreak, which started with the family. Another 20 were detected in isolation, the Daily Mail reported.

Auckland is currently under a Stage Three lockdown, which means residents are only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons.

The rest of the country is under a less strict Stage Two lockdown, whereby social distancing measures are enforced but people are still allowed to socialize in groups of up to 100.

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