WELLINGTON: New Zealand officials reported 14 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (Aug 13) as health authorities continued to scramble to trace the source of an outbreak in Auckland.
The new infections, which included one overseas arrival who was in quarantine, brings the number of active cases in the country to 36.
"We can see the seriousness of the situation we are in," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a televised media conference.
"It's being dealt with in an urgent but calm and methodical way."
The discovery of four infected family members in Auckland two days ago shocked a country that had not recorded a case of COVID-19 for more than three months, raising some criticism of the government's handling of the crisis.
Ardern noted that experience showed "things will get worse before they get better", and more cases were likely to be reported in coming days.
READ: New Zealand PM Ardern expects coronavirus cluster to grow further
"Once again we are reminded of how tricky this virus is and how easily it can spread," she said. "Going hard and early is still the best course of action."
Officials reported on Thursday that three more people at refrigerator storage facility, where one of the family members worked, had tested positive.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said health officials were getting "closer every hour" to finding the patient zero of the outbreak.
"We are working flat out to do the contact-tracing we need to do and trace back to find out what the source of this infection is," Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB radio.
Bloomfield raised the possibility on Wednesday that the virus had arrived in New Zealand via freight, given one of the infected family members works in a cool store that takes imported frozen goods from overseas.
On Thursday, he said that was considered "a low possibility", but did not detail other potential sources.
READ: New Zealand considers freight as possible source of new COVID-19 cluster
Ardern said it was a positive sign that all the new 13 community cases were linked back to the infected family, either via work or broader family connections. All were being transferred into quarantine facilities.
Some prominent local health experts suggested it was more likely the virus had been quietly spreading in Auckland for weeks, infecting potentially dozens of people.
Bloomfield said it was "almost certain" more cases would emerge, and teams of health workers were racing to find the cluster's origin.
"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 said.
"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."
He said any decision on extending the lockdown depended on what the investigations uncovered over the next 24 hours.
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 the return of COVID-19, even it had taken some Kiwis 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."
RUSH TO SUPERMARKETS
Residents of Auckland, home to around 1.7 million people, were given just hours to prepare for the return to level 3 restrictions on Wednesday, requiring people to stay at home unless for essential trips.
People in the city reported waiting hours to be tested for the virus, according to local media, and there was a rush to supermarkets to stock up on essentials.
READ: New Zealand PM orders Auckland into lockdown after return of community COVID-19 cases
The rest of the country was placed back into slightly looser level 2 restrictions. The restrictions will initially remain in place until Friday, when Ardern will announce the next steps.
With an election scheduled just weeks away, Ardern was facing criticism from the major opposition party for the decision to resume lockdown measures.
The NZ National Party also wants the September election to be pushed back to November. Ardern has said she will make a decision on the poll before Monday.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC9jb3ZpZC0xOS1uZXctemVhbGFuZC1tdWxscy1sb2NrZG93bi1leHRlbnNpb24tMTMwMTYwNzDSAQA?oc=5
2020-08-13 02:03:45Z
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