New Zealand reports first coronavirus case after 102 days

WELLINGTON: New Zealand has reported its first locally transmitted case of coronavirus after 102 days of becoming COVID-19 free.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in this regard issued a stay-at-home lockdown order for the country’s largest city. She said that four cases had been detected in a single-family in Auckland from an unknown source.

“After 102 days, we have our first cases of COVID-19 outside of managed isolation or quarantine facilities, while we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario, we have also planned and prepared for it,” Ardern said.

The country had not recorded transmission of the virus within the community in more than three months and daily life had returned to normal, except for strict border controls. All 22 known cases of the virus before this announcement were among returning travellers quarantined in isolation facilities.

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The newly detected case in New Zealand was diagnosed yesterday in a person in his 50s who lives in South Auckland; a second test on Tuesday also tested positive. The person had no history of overseas travel.

Three other family members of the six in the house have tested positive for coronavirus; the others have tested negative. Ardern said that many questions remain about the four new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the community, after 102 days of no such cases in the country. She announced that as of 12 pm on Wednesday, Auckland would be placed in a restrictive phase of lockdown for three days.