New Zealand locks down all nursing homes after virus return

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AUCKLAND, Aug 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – New Zealand locked down nursing homes
nationwide Wednesday after a 102-day streak without the coronavirus ended, as
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the outbreak could force her to postpone
next month’s general election.

Ardern said authorities were scrambling to trace anyone who had been in
contact with four Auckland residents who tested positive Tuesday, ending the
dream run in which the virus had been contained at New Zealand’s borders.

A three-day stay-at-home order for Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city
with a population of 1.5 million, was announced on Tuesday night and went
into force at lunchtime on Wednesday.

Police in facemasks manned roadblocks on major roads in Auckland to
enforce the new measures.

Ardern said health officials were also locking down aged care homes across
the country because they could act as transmission hotspots.

“I realise how incredibly difficult this will be for those who have loved
ones in these facilities, but it’s the strongest way we can protect and look
after them,” she said.

There was panic buying at supermarkets across New Zealand and huge queues
at coronavirus testing stations as Kiwis came to terms with the re-emergence
of a virus many thought had been defeated.

New Zealand had been held up by the World Health Organization as an
example of how to contain the disease after recording only 22 deaths in a
population of five million and preventing community transmission for more
than three months.

Ardern said the return of coronavirus was “unsettling” but all efforts
were being made to retrace the steps of the Auckland family of four who
contracted it from an unknown source.

She said the September 19 election may be impacted if the outbreak could
not be contained.

“We’re seeking advice from the Electoral Commission, just so that we make
sure have all options open to us,” she said.

“No decisions yet, as you can imagine, have been made.”

Ardern’s centre-left Labour Party has been riding high in opinion polls
and is expected win a second term.

The conservative National Party was open to the idea of a delay if
conditions meant it was justified.

“It’s going to be very difficult to have an election in mid-September when
we are now mid-August. It is very little time,” National leader Judith
Collins told TV3.