New Zealand Sets Record Highest Spike Of COVID-19 Cases Since April 2020

Illustration of the COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand. (Wikimedia Commons/Michal Klajban)

JAKARTA - New Zealand on Tuesday recorded its highest increase in COVID-19 cases since April 2020, although authorities said the number had not increased exponentially and the outbreak was still centered in Auckland.

New Zealand authorities reported 41 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 148, Chief Health Director-General, Ashley Bloomfield, said at a news conference.

That is the newest case since April 2020, according to a graph on the Ministry of Health's website. Of the total new infection cases, 38 are in Auckland while the other three cases are in Wellington.

"It's reassuring that we don't see an exponential increase", said Bloomfield, adding that with most cases reported in Auckland, it indicated infections were not widespread.

However, the health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it was surprising to see the daily increase in the number of cases at this stage of the outbreak and at its peak last year, New Zealand had a daily total of 89 new cases.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who previously won global praise, for her success in eradicating COVID-19 in the country. Now back in the fight against the Coronavirus.

However, its reliance on strict border controls and rapid lockdowns that have impacted the economy has been called into question amid the latest outbreak.

On Monday, Prime Minister Ardern extended a strict level 4 nationwide lockdown by three days until midnight on August 27, while Auckland will impose restrictions until at least August 31.

New Zealand's Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the government had enough funds to tackle the latest outbreak and the economy had been very resilient.

"A strong public health response is still the best economic response", he told a news conference.

The South Pacific nation's virus-free travel since February ended last week, after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of the Coronavirus, erupted in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, and quickly spread to the capital Wellington.

Launching Worldometers, New Zealand has recorded a total of 3,096 cases of COViD-19 infection, with a total of 26 deaths and 2,887 patients have recovered since last year's pandemic.