Venkat Raman
Auckland, April 19, 2020
There is growing opinion, although among a small minority of people, that New Zealand should open up businesses, but Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said that any move would depend on the decision of her Cabinet, which will meet tomorrow (Monday, April 20, 2020).
“We are meeting early- at 1030 am so that we will have sufficient time to consider all reports and take appropriate decision. Any move out of the current total lockdown will depend on a number of factors. We will announce the decision of the Cabinet at 4 pm,” she told a media conference today.
The numbers today
Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield reported that the total number of new cases today was nine, of which five are probable cases.
“All of our cases today are linked to confirmed cases. The new combined total of confirmed and probable cases in New Zealand is 1431. There are now 912 reported cases of Covid-19 who have recovered – an increase of 45 on yesterday,” he said.
Dr Bloomfield said that 18 people are in hospital with the virus, three of them in ICU.
He confirmed that the death of a man in Invercargill four days ago was Covid-19 related and that there are still 16 significant clusters in the country.
There have been 83,224 tests conducted thus far, with the daily average is 3151.
Ms Ardern thanked New Zealanders for their support in observing the rules of Alert 4, including staying at home, social distancing and restricting movements beyond their bubbles to providing or accessing essential services.
“I want to acknowledge we have been successful to date at rolling out our plan, because we have had a plan, we have stuck to it and we have done it together,” she said.
The second wave fear
The declining rate of in reported cases on day-to-day basis places New Zealand on top of the world, the fear is that an early exist from the current stringent lockdown could start the second wave of the virus as experienced by Singapore during the past ten days.
She warned again that moving to Alert Level 3 would not signify pre-Covid-19 life for anyone.
“Ministers would consider the criteria for moving into Level 3, including whether there is sufficient data to satisfy experts that undetected community transmission is unlikely, that contact tracing is sufficient and rigorous, border restrictions, quarantine and self-isolation are robust and adhered to, and that there is capacity in the health system, including the workforce and PPE,” she said.
A majority of Indian Newslink readers and member of the Indian community believe that the country should continue under Alert Level 4 for some more time (perhaps two more weeks) and then move to Alert Level 4.
“It is better to stay longer now, eliminate the virus and then move to other levels,” they said.
Critics of the government, some of them against any kind of lockdown had cited Singapore and Sweden as ‘excellent examples of keeping the economy open.’
The status in Singapore
The Singapore government tightened movement of people, calling it a ‘Circuit Breaker,’ but allowed food outlets and many other businesses to open.
According to experts, the country has been experiencing the second wave of Covid-19.
The total number of cases rose from 3252 on April 15 to 3699 (an increase of 447) on April 16, to 4427 (728) on April 17, to 5050 (623) on April 18 and to 5992 (942) on April 19, 2020.
A government notification attributed a majority of these cases to migrant workers residing outside dormitories and that the virus in the rest of the country has declined.
“The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 40 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 31 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased slightly, from an average of 19 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 22 per day in the past week,” the notification said.
New Zealand does not distinguish between migrant workers, those on temporary visas, citizens and permanent residents. Everyone is considered as a part of the society, although statistics relating to ethnicity are sometimes released.
The status in Sweden
Sweden has been reluctant to impose restrictions- not until situation got out of hand, with demands from the public getting louder.
The country has been witnessing more than 600 cases on a daily basis over the past few days. As on April 19, 2020, there were 13, 822 cases of Coronavirus, with 1511 deaths. The increase in the number of cases over the April 18 was 606, and an increase of 676 over the previous day.
On Thursday, April 16, 2020, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven issued instructions to be in place from April 18 to June 30, 2020 and announced extension of entry ban for another 30 days.
Swedish authorities have been criticised over their measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
Cafes, bars, restaurants and schools are still open in the country, as well as hair salons and gyms, and people are still allowed to exercise outdoors.
The effectiveness of this approach has been questioned in recent weeks after a spike in COVID-19 deaths made Sweden the worst-affected Scandinavian country.
