New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday warned that the country is entering a new phase of its COVID-19 pandemic response that is “like nothing we’ve experienced to date,” as case numbers begin to explode.
“We are embarking for the first time in the two years since the start of the outbreak into a period where New Zealanders will see more COVID in the community,” Ardern said. “It is a period of disruption and, I know, of risk, and will be like nothing we’ve experienced to date.”
Ardern was speaking to reporters after a political reporter tested positive for the virus after taking a rapid antigen test moments before the news conference.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The empty seats in front of her — and the decision to forge on with the conference regardless — helped illustrate the new era for New Zealand, in which the government expects the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 to reach every part of the country.
New Zealand has been reporting near-daily record highs in case numbers, as infections begin to hit an exponential growth curve.
Officials yesterday announced 981 cases in the community, up from previous all-time highs of 810 on Sunday and 454 the day before.
The latest additions mean there are 4,960 active cases recorded across New Zealand, but experts say that the true number is likely much higher, given a lag in test results, and because testing is only advised for those with symptoms or who have been a direct contact with a case.
Ardern announced that the country would enter “phase 2” of its Omicron response — where home isolation times would be reduced, and it would rely more on contact tracing through apps and online questionnaires, rather than investigations of each case by health officials.
The latter is an admission that hands-on contact tracing is already reaching capacity. While the country has nearly 5,000 active cases from the past three weeks, the government has publicly listed only 135 locations of interest.
Yesterday’s announcement follows regulations last week that exempt key workers from isolating if exposed, as long as they return negative tests.
The next phase is designed to try to carry the country through a period with extremely widespread cases, without having crucial workforces or supply chains paralyzed by mass isolation.
New Zealand Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield and Ardern said that they are trying to avoid a “ping-mageddon” — a phenomenon similar to the “pingdemic” seen in the UK where so many people were simultaneously notified of being in contact with a person who had tested positive for COVID-19 that workforces ground to a halt and many people stopped using the apps.
Bloomfield said the country would no longer be requiring self-isolation for everyone who has been in COVID-19 location, nor would they necessarily be notified.
“Where we put the effort will focus on places like age groups, dental care, corrections, facilities, places where there might have been the risk of a super-spreader type event ... but we won’t be following up nor expecting people to isolate if they have, for example, been in a hospitality venue, just generally in that place” where another case was present.
Asked how New Zealanders are dealing with the rapid rise in cases — and the mindset shift required after years dedicated to stamping every COVID-19 case out, Ardern said: “My honest take is that New Zealanders are highly adaptable.”
“It’s a different phase, but I think New Zealanders are ready for it. I think they know that what we’re dealing with an Omicron — yes, we need to be vigilant, and we don’t want to be cavalier, but I think we also recognize it’s very different than the other stages of the pandemic and we have protections now that we didn’t have before,” she said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS