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New Zealand Extends Nationwide Lockdown as Criticism Over Strategy Mounts
epoch times ^ | 23 August A.D. 2021 | Lorenz Duchamps

Posted on 08/23/2021 9:28:02 AM PDT by lightman

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended the country’s national COVID-19 lockdown on MondaNew Zealandy, saying the current outbreak has not peaked and more certainty about the Delta variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus is needed.

The entire nation will remain at “alert level 4,” until 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 27, the ministry of health announced. The region of Auckland, the epicenter of the latest outbreak of 35 CCP virus cases, will be under the nation’s strictest rules until at least Aug. 31.

“We don’t yet believe that we have reached the peak of this outbreak or necessarily the edge of it,” Ardern said at a press briefing in the capital of Wellington. “That does mean the safest option for all of us right now is to hold the course for longer.”

“Six days into the outbreak, we are building a picture of Delta’s spread,” she added. “There remain a number of unanswered questions, and with Delta more certainty is needed.”

Under level four, the highest level of lockdown in the country, everyone is required to stay at home and are only allowed to make physical contact with those in their household bubble. Businesses and schools will be closed and only essential services will be operational.

The latest government update brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 107. Of the 35 latest cases, 33 were identified in Auckland and two in Wellington.

The discovery of a single “assumed” Delta case last week was all it took to put the country back into a full national lockdown.

Health officials announced last week a 58-year-old man from Auckland, who has not been identified, likely contracted the Delta variant, although genome sequencing has yet to be completed. Ardern enforced a snap three-day nationwide lockdown over the case that began on Aug. 17 around midnight.

The outbreak of the Delta variant has called into question Ardern’s snap lockdowns and border restrictions approach that have curtailed New Zealand’s economy.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand last week held off hiking interest rates following the outbreak and lockdown. The Bank’s chief economist said on Monday that the outbreak was not a “game-changer” yet, but was causing some economic uncertainty.

“For now everyone is in agreement … elimination is the strategy,” Ardern said as she defended her CCP virus strategy during Monday’s briefing. “There is no discussion or debate amongst any of us about that because that is the safest option for us while we continue to vaccinate our people.”

New Zealand has recorded just 2,698 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, along with 26 deaths, according to the health ministry.

About 20 percent of the 5.1 million New Zealanders are fully vaccinated, with approximately 1.75 million people having taken a first dose and just over 1 million people having taken two doses.

Earlier this month, Ardern also confirmed that the border will remain shut for international travelers for the rest of the year, adding that she hopes for a cautious reopening in a phased manner starting after the New Year.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: newzealand; tyranny; zerocovid
Totally delusional.
1 posted on 08/23/2021 9:28:02 AM PDT by lightman
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To: lightman

Power hungry delusional bint rules that country. WTF do people tolerate it?


2 posted on 08/23/2021 9:30:09 AM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: lightman

Beatings will continue until morale improves.


3 posted on 08/23/2021 9:31:36 AM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman!)
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To: lightman

Another beautiful place wrecked by COMMUNISTS.


4 posted on 08/23/2021 9:40:33 AM PDT by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.)
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To: shanover

If New Zealand wants absolutely ZERO Covid cases, she might as well ban all flights or shipping to the country. Just isolate yourselves forever and you’ll most probably achieve this.


5 posted on 08/23/2021 9:42:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (u)
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To: lightman

These people are crazy. And power-crazed.


6 posted on 08/23/2021 9:44:36 AM PDT by livius
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To: lightman

What is the long term plan here? Continue locking down in perpetuity every time someone tests positive? COVID is endemic now. It’s not going to disappear.


7 posted on 08/23/2021 9:53:53 AM PDT by TarasBulbous
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To: lightman

Let’s refocus our attention on the Afghanistan slaughter.


8 posted on 08/23/2021 9:57:05 AM PDT by Eddie01 (Only a fool plays a rigged game by the rules)
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To: shanover
> WTF do people tolerate it?

What do you expect from a bunch of people who wanted to still have a Monarch after gaining independence ?

9 posted on 08/23/2021 10:04:51 AM PDT by SecondAmendment (This just proves my latest theory ... LEFTISTS RUIN EVERYTHING !)
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To: lightman

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is just another incorrigible insolent child-brat that never grew up. Like any Marxist authoritarian... she is imbalanced; a depraved anti-liberty despot that holds contempt for the serfs beneath her.

Her mental acuity remains undeveloped since 6 years old and struggles to control her monthly emotional swings. The only release is to channel her inner Stalin by imposing draconian edicts upon New Zealand which gives her satisfaction knowing the peasants and their livelihoods are being destroyed. She takes sadistic pleasure stomping on the ant hill.


10 posted on 08/23/2021 10:05:06 AM PDT by Bellagio
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To: HighSierra5

Another beautiful place wrecked by COMMUNISTS.

It takes a special kind of political system to take a place with a moderate climate, fertile soil, moderate rainfall, and plenty of natural reassures and turn it into a hellhole. Cuba is another country like this which comes to mind.


11 posted on 08/23/2021 10:07:16 AM PDT by Flick Lives (We may or may not have reached herd immunity, but we've definitely achieved herd stupidity.)
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To: lightman

Doubling down is just how the stupid politicians roll.


12 posted on 08/23/2021 10:17:58 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: shanover
WTF do people tolerate it?

Obvious:

They have plenty to eat.

They are safe from nearly everything except their own police.

Their media tells them it is for their own safety.

They hear virtually no contrary voices.

13 posted on 08/23/2021 10:31:45 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries. )
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To: lightman

When the hysteria subsides and the dust settles the people of the world will realize what the evil “Great Reset” tormentors have done to them and there will be a worldwide manhunt to bring them to justice.


14 posted on 08/23/2021 10:58:04 AM PDT by WMarshal (The Pleasant American)
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