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New Zealand drops 'Covid zero' goal as Australia outbreak levels off
The hardline elimination policy had largely protected the country from the pandemic, with residents enjoying a near-normal domestic life alongside tight restrictions on international borders.
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New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media about changing the 2020 general election date during a press conference at the Parliament in Wellington on August 17, 2020. - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 17 delayed New Zealand's looming election by four weeks to October 17 after a renewed COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak hampered campaigning. (AFP/Marty Melville )
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rime Minister Jacinda Ardern admitted Monday that New Zealand's widely praised "Covid zero" strategy had failed to halt a stubborn outbreak in Auckland and said a new approach was needed.
The hardline elimination policy had largely protected the country from the pandemic, with residents enjoying a near-normal domestic life alongside tight restrictions on international borders.
But an August outbreak prompted a seven-week lockdown in its main population centre that has failed to curb infection rates.
Ardern said the highly transmissible Delta variant had proved a "game-changer" that could not be eliminated.
"Even with the long-term restrictions we've had, we patently haven't reached zero," she added, quoted by AFP.
Ardern said she would not immediately dump the elimination strategy but lockdown restrictions in Auckland would be eased slightly, even though new case numbers have not fallen.
She added that the change -- a major shift to her previous goal of completely stamping out the virus -- was possible because vaccination rates had increased dramatically.
