Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today said New Zealand is making “huge” progress against the coronavirus epidemic, but now is not the time to slacken off.
New Zealand will not be leaving lockdown early and the decision as to what happens next will not take place until Cabinet meets on April 20 to discuss it.
Her comments came after Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield revealed there were only 29 new cases today, taking the total to 1239 cases nationwide.
Other countries have seen tens of thousands of cases and thousands of deaths.
Ms Ardern said at the daily Covid-19 briefing: “At the halfway mark I have no hesitation in saying, that what New Zealanders have done over the last two weeks is huge.
“In the face of the greatest threat to human health we have seen in over a century, Kiwis have quietly and collectively implemented a nationwide wall of defence.
"You are breaking the chain of transmission. You have saved lives.”
Modelling provided by economist Rodney Jones on the eve of the lockdown suggested New Zealand was on a similar trajectory to Italy and Spain and that our 205 cases on the 25th of March could have grown to over 10,000 by now, the Prime Minister said.
However, new modelling due to be released later today by Te Punaha Matatini suggests that the current controls at Alert Level 4 have put the country on track to “meet their most optimistic scenario”.
“Instead of the horrific scenes we have seen abroad we are at 1239 cases, and the total number of cases has fallen for the last four days with 29 new cases today, the lowest daily number of cases since the 23rd of March, before the lockdown began,” Ms Ardern said.
“We are turning a corner, and your commitment means our plan is working.
“But to succeed, we need it to keep working. Success does not mean we change the course. Removing restrictions now would allow the virus to spread rapidly once again and we could be back to the starting line within two weeks. That’s also why we will keep enforcing the rules.”
She said there would be police roadblocks in some places over the Easter weekend. “We cannot let the selfish actions of a few set us back.”
And she announced all New Zealanders arriving back in the country from midnight tonight would be compulsorily quarantined. She said that move could not have been done earlier.
“As I’ve said, this is going to be a marathon,” the Prime Minister added. “Our plan for that marathon, is to keep eliminating the virus from New Zealand. We can do that by keeping it out of the country, but also by rapidly stamping out any outbreaks that flare up. And that plan is the very best thing we can also do for the New Zealand economy.”
She stressed we will not be moving out of Level 4 early. “If we move too early, we will go backwards.”
Cabinet will decide on April 20, two days before the planned end of Level 4, what happens next.
SHARE ME