Coronavirus has been announced as “currently eliminated” in New Zealand according to their Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
No widespread community transmissions are being recorded in the country and only five new confirmed cases were reported on Monday, April 27.
Ardern stated that the country had managed to avoid the worst case scenarios during the outbreak and that the last few cases would be found and treated.
New Zealand has a total of 1472 cases are with 1214 recoveries and 19 deaths since the initial outbreak. The majority of the infected patients are already being treated.
As of midnight of Monday, April 27, certain business in the country were allowed to reopen with social distancing rules in place.
“We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives,” Ms Ardern stated during the daily government briefing.
The country’s Director-General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield said that although the country had “eliminated” the virus for now, this did not mean that new cases weren’t possible but rather that they are aware of where the new cases will come from.
According to Ardern the country has won the battle.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, New Zealand has been lauded for their unique approach to eliminating the virus without including a vaccine in their strategy like many other countries have.
Many countries had focused their efforts on reducing deaths while New Zealand aimed to eradicate the virus altogether.
The UAE has also reported a decline in coronavirus cases this week, with total cases dipping below 500 for the first time in five days. All workers in Abu Dhabi have been urged to get tested or face fines in days to come as malls and business plan to reopen in the near future, with an array of new regulations.
South Korea has also managed to reign the virus in with only 10 cases reported on Monday, April 27. The country has managed the unique feat of slowing the virus outbreak with an active test-and-quarantine programme, without instating a lockdown or imposing business bans.
Schools in the country have been closed since the outbreak first started but will reopen soon following the reduced number of cases.
Picture: Unsplash