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NEW ZEALAND IS racing to track the source of a sudden return of Covid-19 as the number of new cases in its biggest city rose to 17 and officials warned more infections were inevitable.
National health chief Ashley Bloomfield said there were 13 new confirmed infections in Auckland, all linked to four family members found on Tuesday, ending the country’s record of 102 days without community transmission.
The surge in new cases raised the prospect that a three-day lockdown imposed in Auckland since midday on Wednesday would be extended as teams of health workers hunted for the cluster’s origin and ramped up testing in the city.
Bloomfield said among the new cases was a student at one of New Zealand’s largest high schools, attended by more than 3,000 children.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there were likely to be more cases linked to the recent spike.
“As with our first outbreak, things will get worse before they get better,” she said in a televised address.
Ardern was encouraged by the fact that all the cases so far were in a single cluster limited to Auckland.
“You can see the seriousness of the situation,” she said.
“While it is serious, it is being dealt with in an urgent but calm and methodical way.”
Bloomfield said authorities were urgently exploring all possible routes of transmission.
“We want to find out how large it is as soon as possible, so we’ve been testing all close contacts, casual contacts, workplace, family-related,” he told TVNZ.
“This is what we want to do as quickly as possible to find out how extensive the outbreak is and who the first case might have been.”
Freight link ‘unlikely’
Auckland’s lockdown is scheduled to end late tomorrow and Bloomfield said any decision on extending it depended on what the investigations uncovered over the next 24 hours.
“It’s too early to say … we’ll have a lot more information tomorrow,” he said.
He played down one line of inquiry examining whether the virus was imported via freight, then picked up by a male member of the family, who worked in a cool room for imported goods.
“It’s a possibility — it’s unlikely but it’s something we need to rule out,” Bloomfield said, adding that another focus was whether the infection came from managed isolation facilities.
These facilities, mainly hotels and motels that have been sealed off from the general public, house thousands of new arrivals from overseas, with positive cases placed in stricter quarantine.
Bloomfield said that Covid-19 cases found in the community, along with some at-risk family members, were now being moved into quarantine as well for the first time, rather than being allowed to self-isolate at home.
“It will help us prevent any further inadvertent spread in the community,” he said.
Despite New Zealand’s previous success in containing the virus — with just 22 deaths in a population of five million — Bloomfield said health authorities had always anticipated such a return, even if it had taken some people by surprise.
“Yes we were becoming complacent and that’s why our message over the last few weeks has been around avoiding that,” he said.
“As you’ll recall, last week I was talking about when — not if.”
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I fully support compulsory retirement. It provides employment opportunities for young people, getting new ideas etc. into companies. Older people in jobs for 40 to 50 years are so set in their ways and most are unwilling to change.
@Christy McCarthy:
Obviously, you’re in the “I’m alright Jack ” camp, probably with a nice pension and can afford to retire.
Many can’t, especially if you were caught in your late forties in the last recession. Many people never recovered and are now in early sixties.
@Christy McCarthy: I take it Christy, life is good for you, and I sincerely hope it is, but this is not everyone’s position, why should age prevent the prospect of meeting the ability to provide for need, so many struggle with hidden poverty, forced unemployment will only add to this and you are wrong in putting older people in a collective ‘set in their ways and unwilling to change’, a recent study showed the reason most people resist change in an organisation is that change is badly managed at management level, so before you make assumptions, know the facts ,perhaps there is a new reality to ‘old’ age
@Christy McCarthy:
The more people, irrespective of age, in productive employment the better it is for the economy. Young people might have new ideas but not always sencible or workable.
@Christy McCarthy:
unwilling to change?… stupid talk. Older people are the ones that look for change in work. I work in a large multinational were some of the workforce are retiring this year, and they don’t want to. Those “older” people at least wont be ringing in sick on a Monday or messing about in work acting the fools causing accidents. I’ve have a bunch of older people in before a lot of the younger ones with their FB profiles..
@Christy McCarthy: 60 is the new 40 or haven’t you heard ?
@Christy McCarthy: the human race is on a quest for immortality and when that happens there will be no retirement age. However jobs are unlikely anyway as they are already being replaced by AI at an alarming rate. What will humans do then?
A work ethic is hopefully what we are all proud of. Living longer and healthier allows us all to work for as long as we wish to. We will all know when it’s time to rest up but shouldn’t be pushed in to retiring from any job you have that your still capable of. Reducing hours by choice could be feasible. Age should not be a barrier to anything. Don’t disarm our older older generations their experiences is an asset !
@smudge: ‘Age should not be a barrier to anything’ Tell that to Mother Nature. I’m sure sites will be now be clogged with 70yr old plus bocklayers and labourers, or maybe not.
@smudge:
I agree with the sentiment, my own father worked until 77 but then I also know of a situation where someone who is 70 and doing his original job part time but doesn’t realise he is having difficulties. I difficult conversation with management is coming.
Going on family history, my estimated expiry date is early to mid sixties, and it is an assault on my human rights that anyone should be allowed to be employed up to age 70.
@Martello Mulligan: Maybe I’m not reading you correctly but that sounds a bit selfish.??
@Martello Mulligan: If a lot of your family died that young they must have smoked. So don’t smoke.
@William Grogan: That is a wild assumption. Lots of illnesses are genetic
@RJ.Fallon: It sounds ridiculous to be honest, how does a particular families life/death expectation impact all other individuals in a stated age range in employment, I take it Martello thinks they have no human rights.
Think the ‘work longer if they wish’ part of this is largely misleading. People who ‘retire’ usually continue to work in some capacity paid or otherwise – housework, cooking, gardening, childcare etc so getting into a flap about the right to work beyond a certain age is missing the point. The real issue facing people in the future will the scenario where people will have no choice but to work beyond retirement age. Does anyone seriously think that Ireland’s generation rent will be able to afford to pay spiralling rents on a pension? Given our demographics, there’s a big question mark over whether there will be enough funds to pay pensions in 30-40 years time so this ‘right to work’ should really be about the ‘need to work’ beyond retirement.
My Mum was still working up to last year at age 74 only reason stopped was because boutique closed down. She even got another Job in new one but her pay and hours where a disgrace so she did not take the Job
@Kerrie Roche:
Good for her. Great to see but older people are treated poorly by society in general so I’m not surprised at the derisory pay and conditions
Some people need and want to work for the sake of sanity alone and both the young AND old are exploited in that regard by some employers.
@Bat Daly: she is an amazing woman, even went to slane last year to guns and roses
It’s great that we oldies should have the chance to stay working longer but it’s also a bit selfish. It isn’t giving younger people a chance to move up. Young people need decent jobs to support their young families, us oldies have been there and done that and honestly I think they should be thinking of giving younger employees a chance and opt for part time work so they can ease themselves into retirement.
@Dorothy Giselsson: agreed. I also think that its wrong to force people to have to work until they are 67/68 – by the time I can claim my pension I’ll be 70!! Not all jobs are suitable for the elderly to continue to work but now people are being forced to work until these ages as they won’t get their pension! I agree as you say that perhaps there should be the option to work part time and ease into retirement but part pension should be paid in this instance. A disgrace our politicians can claim their multiple pensions so early when the multitude cannot.
I will be forced onto the dole later this year at 65, some cheek to call it retirement, people who retire get pension, I have to sign to job seekers the day after I stop work because of my birthday. Won’t pay my pension till I 66, 50 euros a week less is alot to lose and why???
If you are retirement age and feel like working or maybe you have to then do there is plenty of healthy 60 and 70 year olds and it should be their choice
Seen discrimination in a work place for staff that stay on after 65.Some are made move to a different shift and do a different job plus there now on a fixed term contract and don’t have any sick pay.
have your say