COVID-19 cases soar in New Zealand, in dramatic shift : NPR & More News Here

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New Zealand is in the throes of skyrocketing COVID-19 infections, marking a dramatic shift for the small nation in the South Pacific. For a lot of the pandemic, it had efficiently suppressed the virus, however every day cases that numbered in the lots of simply two weeks in the past jumped to greater than 22,000 by Friday. NPR’s Julie McCarthy has this report.

JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Omicron lastly arrived in New Zealand and is spreading at what’s estimated to be the quickest price in the world. Monday hit a report excessive of greater than 32,000 new infections, a staggering quantity in a rustic of simply 5 million. Epidemiologist Michael Baker advised native media that New Zealanders might want to make a psychological shift

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MICHAEL BAKER: It’s a shock to see these numbers go so excessive. And one cause it is a shock is that New Zealand managed the pandemic so properly to this point. We’ve stored case numbers down. In specific, we have stored deaths very low.

MCCARTHY: In reality, solely 63 folks have died from COVID-19, one of many lowest counts in the world, and it was achieved by a number of the strictest lockdowns in the world. But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned that because the nation now strikes into a brand new, extra relaxed part, ending restrictions and opening up, there will likely be extra virus circulating and extra New Zealanders getting it. She inspired that third shot.

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PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN: And as you agency up your family omicron plan, make your booster the very first thing you do to guard your self and susceptible folks from getting the virus.

MCCARTHY: As eye-popping because the omicron surge is, New Zealand Health Director Ashley Bloomfield says the nation’s excessive price of vaccination – 80%, in response to Johns Hopkins – will preserve hospitalizations down and good outcomes up.

ASHLEY BLOOMFIELD: For most individuals, COVID-19 will likely be a gentle to reasonable sickness that may be managed fairly safely at house.

MCCARTHY: Omicron is radiating out from New Zealand’s largest metropolis, Auckland, the place anti-lockdown protests erupted final yr. The capital Wellington noticed protracted at occasions violent demonstrations in the final three weeks.

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MCCARTHY: Government opponents occupied the grounds of Parliament, decrying mandates and touting pure immunity over vaccines. Things turned nasty when protesters flung feces at police and doused a stinging spray on officers. When Wellington police shut the occupation down this week, Prime Minister Ardern condemned the violence and the disinformation that she stated protesters had succumbed to.

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ARDERN: And whereas many people have seen that disinformation and dismissed it as conspiracy concept, a small portion of our society haven’t solely believed it, they’ve acted upon it in an excessive and violent approach that can’t stand.

MCCARTHY: Every main democracy has needed to confront residents uneasy with vaccines and the elemental conflict it presents, the duty one owes society versus one’s particular person proper to behave freely. New Zealander Trudy Kessels (ph), a mom of three and member of Families Against Mandates, says the federal government is wielding a blunt instrument in that dispute. She says these difficult tensions…

TRUDY KESSELS: Need nuanced dialogue and complicated options.

MCCARTHY: There could also be ample alternative for that but. Noted public well being doctor David Skegg says the pandemic is way from over.

DAVID SKEGG: The virus continues to mutate, and personally, I’ll be shocked if we’re nonetheless speaking concerning the honorclub variant by the top of the yr.

MCCARTHY: Julie McCarthy, NPR News.

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