WELLINGTON – New Zealand has conceded that its ambitious “Covid zero” elimination strategy may no longer be viable today, as an outbreak of the virulent Delta variant continues to spread.
Covid-19 Response Minister Christopher John Hipkins reported that 21 cases from a cluster that emerged in Auckland last week, has ended a six-month run of no local cases and sparking a national lockdown.
Hipkins said that Delta’s highly transmissible nature is making this outbreak more difficult to contain than other variants, raising the “big questions” about the elimination strategy.
“The scale of infectiousness and the speed at which the virus has spread is something that, despite all the best preparations in the world, has put our system under strain,” he told TVNZ.
New Zealand’s widely praised Covid-19 response, which has resulted in just 26 deaths in a population of five million, centres on eliminating the virus from the community.
It has relied on strict border controls backed by hard lockdowns when any cases do slip through, but Hipkins said Delta may force a rethink.
“(Delta’s) like nothing we’ve dealt with before in this pandemic,” he said.
“It does change everything, as it also means that all of our existing preparation is beginning to look less adequate and raises some pretty big questions about the future of our long-term plans.”
Australia has also pursued a “Covid zero” strategy and been similarly frustrated as its Delta cases continue to spike.
The New Zealand outbreak has underlined the country’s slow vaccination roll-out and prompted accusations that the government has become lax after its early success of dealing with the pandemic.
Only about 20% of the population is fully inoculated, one of the lowest rates in the developed world.
Opposition National Party spokesman Chris Bishop said that the outbreak has exposed a lack of urgency in Wellington’s vaccine plans.
“The government’s complacency and inability to ensure supply and delivery of the vaccine has made us all sitting ducks, completely vulnerable to the Delta variant when it inevitably got into the community,” he said.
Another opposition figure, ACT Party leader David Seymour, said Hipkins cannot use the Delta variant as an excuse for current failures.
“We’ve known about Delta since December, what has he been doing in the meantime?” he asked.
Hipkins said elimination has remained a top priority for the ongoing Delta outbreak, which now totals 71 active cases – 65 in Auckland and six in Wellington.
The national lockdown is due to expire late Tuesday, although Hipkins has indicated that Auckland can face further restrictions even if they are lifted elsewhere.
“If I was an Aucklander, I’d certainly be preparing to be at home for a bit longer,” he said. – AFP, August 22, 2021
