A puzzling new outbreak of the coronavirus in New Zealand's largest city grew to 17 cases, with officials saying the number will likely increase further, nickgbperry writes.
Medical staff take a COVID-19 test from a visitor to a drive through community based assessment centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Health authorities in New Zealand are scrambling to trace the source of a new outbreak of the coronavirus as the nation's largest city, Auckland, goes back into lockdown.
It was a turnabout from Sunday, when the South Pacific nation of 5 million marked 100 days without any cases of local transmission. For most people, life had long returned to normal as they sat down in packed sports stadiums and restaurants or went to school without the fear of getting infected.The only cases for months had been a handful of returning travelers who have been quarantined at the border.
The government is due to make a decision Friday on whether to extend Auckland’s lockdown, which seems increasingly likely given the new cases. “As with our first outbreak, we do have an expectation that things will get worse before they get better,” Ardern said. “Modeling suggests that we will still see more positive cases. At this stage, though, it’s heartening to see them in one cluster.”
Bloomfield said they were testing the facility but he thought that scenario was unlikely and that the virus had most likely spread from person to person. Ardern pointed out that the chilled environment could have aided the spread of the virus once one person had it.
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