New Zealand has no COVID patients in hospital, the last one is discharged as the nation goes 6 days without any new case. There only 21 active cases.
Auckland| New Zealand has zero COVID-19 patients in the hospital and has not registered a new case for 6 days, the health ministry said today.
The last hospital patient was discharged in Auckland overnight in the latest mark of victory for New Zealand’s internationally-praised response to the pandemic.
New Zealand only confirmed its first case on February 26, but had shut its borders by March 19 and started implementing a complete lockdown on March 26.
The nation’s success means the lockdown could be practically lifted within weeks, with gatherings of up to 100 already allowed and plans being made to resume travel to Australia.
The official tally of 1,504 infections has not moved since last Friday, while the death toll of 21 has not grown since May 6.
The Oceania country has conducted a total of 267,435 COVID tests and contact tracers are operating to monitor the remaining cases through the NZ COVID Tracer app.
New Zealand has managed the outbreak much better than most nations. However, officials are taking their time to drop the alert level from two to one – the least severe level.
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In late April, PM Jacinda Ardern said that New Zealand had “won” the fight against widespread community transmission of the virus.
Ardern said that to completely “succeed” in the battle against the COVID-19, the nation must “hunt down” the remaining cases of the virus. “There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle,” said Ardern. “But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way.”
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