Due To Illegal Encounter In Auckland, New Zealand Sets New Record Of Daily COVID-19 Infections

Illustration of a COVID-19 center in New Zealand. (Wikimedia Commons/Alan Tennyson)

JAKARTA - New Zealand recorded a record daily COVID-19 infection case in the past six weeks, with all cases detected in Auckland on Thursday local time.

These conditions raise prospects for a further extension of lockdown restrictions in New Zealand's largest city, which were previously set until next week.

Some 1.7 million people in Auckland are under strict stay-at-home orders until Monday as officials work to stamp out the highly contagious Delta outbreak, the country's first major series of community-wide cases since the start of the pandemic.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said the spike in the number of cases in Auckland was unexpected, rising very quickly, and blamed illegal house gatherings for the spike.

"Now is not the time to be complacent," Robertson insisted during a media conference in Wellington, urging residents in Auckland to strictly follow the level three rule, under which most people are required to stay at home unless they have an urgent reason to leave.

A total of 71 new local cases were reported in New Zealand, all detected in Auckland, up from 55 the day before.

"Today's number of new cases is serious but unexpected, because of where we are in the outbreak," said Public Health Director Caroline McElnay.

To date, around 2.49 million New Zealanders have received the full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or about 59 percent of the total eligible population receiving the vaccination.

Meanwhile, officials pledged to end the lockdown after 90 percent of the population had been vaccinated. In addition, the authorities are trying to find a way to achieve a record of giving 100 thousand doses in one day through a mass vaccination program on Saturday this week.

To note, with the Delta variant, New Zealand to date has recorded around 4,472 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection with 28 deaths during the pandemic, much lower than many comparable countries.