WELLINGTON
AFP
Aug11, 2020
New Zealand announced its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections more than 100 days on Tuesday and issued a stay-at-home lockdown order for the country's largest city.
After receiving global praise for its success containing the virus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 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... we have all worked incredibly hard to prevent this scenario,” she told the country in a televised address.
“We have also planned and prepared for it.” Until Tuesday, the World Health Organization had hailed the country as an example to others for having “successfully eliminated community transmission”.
New Zealand reported just 22 deaths in a population of 22 million and had not recorded community transmission since May 1.
As a result, New Zealanders had been enjoying a near-normal lifestyle with no social distancing and spectators allowed at sports and cultural events.
But health authorities had repeatedly warned people not to be complacent and said a second wave of infections was “inevitable”.
Auckland will be locked down for at least three days from Wednesday and some social distancing restrictions will be reintroduced in the rest of the country.
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The Department of National Zoological Gardens is readying enclosures to quarantine two large tortoises that were found stranded 15 kilometers westwards off Pitipana Negombo, today.
The Customs Department said it will be publish the names of institutions and individuals who violate customs laws and commit tax fraud by uploading the information on its official website www.customs.gov.lk.
A board of inquiry has been appointed to investigate the death of a student at the University of Sabaragamuwa, reportedly linked to a ragging incident.
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