New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has postponed the country’s general election by a month following an increase in cases involving coronavirus. The vote was due on 19 September but will now take place instead of on 17 October. The country’s largest town went back into lockdown earlier this week.
The National Party of the opposition claims that the election postpones because limits on lobbying meant that Ms Ardern with an unfair advantage. Restrictions place on Auckland on Wednesday after the town detect a number of new infections. On Monday, nine new cases of coronavirus confirm taking the number of active cases to link to the Auckland cluster to 58. The outbreak originally traces back to members of one family, but Ms Ardern later state that an earlier criminal case a shop worker who became ill on July 31 had been identified by subsequent contact-tracing.
The announcement that new cases identify shock the world. It had spent more than three months reporting no locally transmitted cases. There are four “warning rates” in New Zealand, and after the new steps introduces, Auckland is on Level 3. The rest of the country stands at Level 2. The government had repealed nearly all of its lockdown restrictions. It is the first place in March before the new cluster establishes.
According to estimates from Johns Hopkins University, New Zealand has registered more than 1,600 infections. Also, 22 deaths since the pandemic started. An early evacuation, tight border controls, positive health messages. Also, an ambitious test-and-trace system all credits with effectively eliminating the country’s virus.
