New Zealand has eliminated coronavirus

[Porpoises]

I keep seeing posters saying "well we'll all have to catch it sooner or later". It's not true. If the government had the political will and competence, they could pursue an elimination goal.

New Zealand has eliminated coronavirus, no new cases today. They locked down early, semi-closed their borders and are aggressively testing, tracking and isolating people exposed. This means they can ease lockdown with everyone safe. They will obviously have to be vigilant in case they have missed cases, but it looks like they will succeed in getting coronavirus free.

Wish I could emigrate - but for obvious reasons they're not accepting visitors right now!

//www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-52436658

[sashagabadon]

@ragged

There's a big persecution fashion in NZ, constant reporting of breaches. A right snitcher's culture. I feel sorry for the women who only travelled to see a dying relative. I have close relatives who live other side of quarantine zones, too. I've already told the my rellies that if they are suddenly very ill or die I can't actually go to visit, or attend their funerals. I feel like I'm back in the 1800s.

Agreed.
I think NZ have got themselves in a v difficult position now where one case is now one case too many to the public and they will have to keep this up until there is a vaccine available in NZ.
It will be very hard to row back from this position. They have to maintain covid free now.
The vitriol at these two women is astonishing in both the press and the public. Getting the army in to police the boarders and no allowance for compassionate reasons is very harsh and over the top but i assume the public are in support of both of these policies.
That said i am sure they are happy being covid free and if they don't work in tourism or don't need to travel anytime soon they are presumably ok.

[nannytothequeen]

Just for information, residence doesn't expire once you've been consistently in NZ for 2 years. It lasts for the life of your passport and is automatically transferred to a new passport. The women who brought Covid into NZ were dishonest about symptoms and dishonest about their travel. And they lobbied a National MP to support their exemption claim, which he did to score political points. It's no wonder that there will be no more exemptions.

[Turangawaewae]

The NZ government had actually been taken to court for refusing compassionate early release from quarantine in May: early release

I originally felt quite sorry for the two women but hearing about them hugging friends has hardened my opinion a bit. I wonder if they realised what the attitude in NZ would be like. Sadly for them, it's likely that their local community will know who they are.

It's clear that many people in the UK have no issues with traveling for holidays in countries with lower rates of covid, despite knowing the could be taking the disease with them. Personally I find this quite baffling. I saw a post on Facebook yesterday likening this travel by the English to the days when early explorers spread diseases like small pox and flu which wiped out huge numbers of Pacific Islanders.

[Derbygerbil]

@Turangawaewae

It's clear that many people in the UK have no issues with traveling for holidays in countries with lower rates of covid, despite knowing the could be taking the disease with them. Personally I find this quite baffling. I saw a post on Facebook yesterday likening this travel by the English to the days when early explorers spread diseases like small pox and flu which wiped out huge numbers of Pacific Islanders.

I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of the current position. The rate of Covid infection in the U.K. is now relatively low, 36th in the world between Azerbaijan and Bahrain as of yesterday... Given that the U.K. is testing more than most countries, in reality it’s infections are lower still, even more so if you account for infections per head of population. Last week it’s infections were lower per head of population than Australia on one day.

Of course, the situation could well change and infections rise again, but the U.K. isn’t doing badly at the moment relative to other countries, having had an appalling period from March to May.

[HandleTheJandal]

Kia ora koutou - reviving this semi-zombie thread for an update from New Zealand Aotearoa.

The NZ economy has proven resilient to the ongoing international border closure: www.nzherald.co.nz/business/nz-economy-bounces-out-of-recession-with-14-gain-in-gdp/YQCAXB65VFYBPEIJL2UKFQWJPE/

Many of the earlier posters were also concerned that NZ was signing itself up for isolation pending rollout of a vaccine which might be years in the development. Mention there has obviously since been good news on the vaccine front.

[Fantail]

Kia ora for posting this @HandleTheJandal

While the situation isn’t perfect, from where I’m sitting at a restaurant surrounded by groups of friends and family on the way home from a post Christmas roadtrip what we have is pretty special.

Fingers crossed our border holds against this new strain until vaccines are rolled out.

[ReadWritePlay]

I was thinking about this thread the other day as I read about the situation in the UK then was looking at Facebook photos of friends and family in NZ having what looks to be a fairly regular holiday period. I’m not in NZ myself but pleased for the people there