H5N1

New Zealand sees success in curbing Delta outbreak as new cases plunge

Via Reuters: New Zealand sees success in curbing Delta outbreak as new cases plunge. Excerpt:

WELLINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - New Zealand reported 28 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, a big drop compared to the last few days, as authorities said the country was breaking the chain of transmission of the highly infectious Delta variant of coronavirus. 

Authorities said 27 new cases were in Auckland and one was in Wellington. Friday's numbers were lower than 49 new cases reported on Thursday and 75 the day before. 

"While the fall is encouraging we are mindful these outbreaks can have a long tail...," Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McEnlay said in a news conference. 

"We are being successful in breaking the chain of transmission," she said. 

Barring a few cases in February, New Zealand had been largely free of coronavirus until the Delta outbreak prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order the snap lockdown last month. 

About 1.7 million people in the largest city of Auckland still remain in strict level 4 lockdown. Curbs have been eased in the rest of the countries but schools and offices as well as cafe, restaurants and all public venues remain shut. Most New Zealanders have been asked to stay indoors. 

Ardern's lockdowns and international border closure since March 2020 have been credited with reining in COVID-19, largely freeing up day-to-day activities from curbs.

New Zealand Covid update: 82 new cases as outbreak worsens despite nationwide lockdown

Via The Guardian: New Zealand Covid update: 82 new cases as outbreak worsens despite nationwide lockdown.

New Zealand’s Covid-19 outbreak has worsened, with 82 new cases taking the total infected to 415. 

All of Saturday’s cases were in Auckland, with the Pacific community again over-represented with 62 cases. 

New Zealand has reached day 11 of a harsh lockdown designed to curb the spread of the virus. The vast majority of recent cases are coming from household contacts, and not gatherings or essential workplaces. However, New Zealand’s battle to eliminate the highly infectious Delta variant appears delicately poised.

The NZ prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has previously advised she expected cases to near a peak after eight to 10 days, and on Friday said the government did not expect further “big jumps” in cases. 

New Zealand has extended its nationwide lockdown until Tuesday. Ardern said her cabinet would decide on the lockdown setting in Auckland and the neighbouring Northland region on Monday, but said it was likely Auckland would stay in level 4 – the highest setting – for another two weeks. 

Saturday’s total of 82 – up from 70 on Friday – is New Zealand’s fifth-worst day for cases during the entire coronavirus pandemic. 

On 17 August, the government put the nation into full lockdown after only a single community case was detected in the city of Auckland. New Zealand has reported 26 deaths from the virus in a population of 5 million since the pandemic began. 

New Zealanders lived virus-free in the six months leading up to the latest outbreak, going to workplaces, shops and sport stadiums without needing to wear masks, while children attended school. Then a traveller returning from Sydney brought the Delta variant, which escaped from a quarantine hotel.

The outbreak has grown to about 350 known cases and is straining New Zealand‘s contact-tracing system as workers try to track down 30,000 other people who might have been exposed. 

The lockdown prevents most people from leaving home other than to exercise, or to buy groceries or medicine. Retail stores are closed, as are restaurants – including takeaway – schools and most businesses. 

New Zealand’s vaccine rollout has been the slowest of any developed nation, with only 39% of people having gotten at least one shot and 22% fully vaccinated. The country chose to use only the Pfizer vaccine and did not approve its use until two months after US regulators first approved it for emergency use. 

The government blamed the initial slowness of the rollout on Pfizer’s delivery schedule. 

Vaccinations have sped up rapidly since the outbreak began, with health workers now giving doses to nearly 2% of the population every day.

New Zealand won’t ‘throw in towel’ on Covid-zero strategy despite rising infections

Via The Guardian: New Zealand won’t ‘throw in towel’ on Covid-zero strategy despite rising infections. Excerpt:

New Zealand’s Covid response minister says the country will not “throw in the towel” with its elimination strategy, as cases continue to rise. 

New Zealand announced 63 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 210 cases. It is the largest single-day jump since the outbreak began last week, and 12 people are hospitalised with the virus. 

Some commentators and media overseas have questioned whether the country should continue its elimination strategy, but Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said the country would be staying its course.

“To New Zealanders at home who are saying, ‘is this still the right strategy’, it’s too soon to throw in the towel,” he said. “We’ve come this far, it would be an absolute waste for us to give up on this now. We still want to drive this particular outbreak of Covid-19 out of our community and get back to a sense of normality.” 

“Of course we do want to get to the point where lockdowns aren’t the answer to potential outbreaks within the community, but we’re not there yet, and we’re certainly not willing to give up before we get to that point,” Hipkins said. 

His comments echoed those of the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Monday: “For now, everyone is in agreement: elimination is the strategy. There is no discussion or debate amongst any of us about that, because that is the safest option for us while we vaccinate our people,” she said. 

Support for the government’s approach to Covid remains sky high in New Zealand. According to polling conducted by The Spinoff and released on Wednesday, just 10% of New Zealanders did not think elimination was the right strategy. Sixty-nine percent still backed the approach, and 21% said they were unsure. An additional poll found 84% of New Zealanders supported the decision to move into lockdown last week.

Vietnam logs additional 10,280 COVID-19 cases

Via VietnamPlus: Vietnam logs additional 10,280 COVID-19 cases. Excerpt and then another link: 

Vietnam recorded 10,280 new COVID-19 infections, including 10,266 domestic and 14 imported cases, in the past 24 hours to 6pm on August 23, the Ministry of Health announced. 

Ho Chi Minh City, which is the current largest pandemic hotspot of the country, logged 4,251 infections, followed by its neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong, with 3,183 cases and Dong Nai, with 623 cases. ...

Meanwhile, 389 more fatalities were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 8,666, or 2.4 percent of the total number of infections, equivalent to the world’s average rate.

Surprisingly, VietnamPlus doesn't mention the fact that troops are now patrolling Ho Chi Minh City to enforce a serious community lockdown:

Vietnamese soldiers have been deployed on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City to help enforce a lockdown in the country's business hub, which has become the epicentre of its worst coronavirus outbreak so far during the pandemic.

Panic-buying broke out at supermarkets in the city of 9 million people over the weekend ahead of the tighter lockdown, which started on Monday and prohibits residents from leaving their homes.

Vietnam's toughest order yet comes amid a spike in fatalities and infections from the Delta variant.

The restrictions will remain in place for at least two weeks.

Soldiers on Monday were checking permits of residents on the streets and delivering food, according to witnesses and photographs on state media.

The city began movement restrictions early last month, but infections have continued to surge after authorities said there had not been strict-enough enforcement of the curbs.

New Zealand national lockdown extended as Covid outbreak spreads to Wellington

Via The Guardian: New Zealand national lockdown extended as Covid outbreak spreads to Wellington. Excerpt:

The whole of New Zealand will remain in lockdown until midnight Tuesday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced, as the country’s coronavirus outbreak grew to 31 people and spread to Wellington. 

The first case in the outbreak emerged in Auckland on Tuesday, prompting the government to put the entire country into a level-4 lockdown – the highest level of restrictions. Genome sequencing has linked the cluster to a returnee from Australia. 

Since then, some of the cases that have emerged include a high school teacher, students at two more high schools, a nurse at Auckland City Hospital and an Air New Zealand cabin crew member. 

Another 11 cases were announced on Friday, including a patient at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital, which forced the emergency care and short-stay surgical care departments to close, and a postal worker. 

Nineteen of the cases are linked to the first case, a 58-year-old man. The Air New Zealand worker is not linked, while the rest of the cases are yet to be genome-sequenced. Initial investigations show they are likely to be connected to the first case. 

The Wellington cases announced on Friday had visited locations of interest in Auckland before returning to the capital prior to the lockdown. 

Initially, Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula, a nearby area visited by the first case, were placed into lockdown for a week, with the rest of the country locked down for three days. The whole country is now in lockdown for the same period.

Delta outbreak exposes New Zealand's low vaccination rates

Via Reuters: Delta outbreak exposes New Zealand's low vaccination rates. Excerpt:

WELLINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - New Zealand's coronavirus cases jumped on Thursday, as questions grew about the government's response to the pandemic given the slowest vaccination rate among developed countries and the economic pressures of prolonged isolation. 

Eleven new cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total to 21 in the latest outbreak that ended the country's six-month, virus-free run. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the virus has not been in the community for long as authorities had linked its origin to a returnee from Sydney on Aug 7. 

"This is a significant development. It means now we can be fairly certain how and when the virus entered the country," Ardern told a news conference.

"And the period in which cases were in the community was relatively short." 

New Zealanders had been living without curbs until Ardern ordered a snap 3-day nationwide lockdown on Tuesday after a case was found in the largest city Auckland, the first in the country since February. 

Ardern, who shut the country's borders in March 2020, had announced plans for a gradual reopening this month following pressure from businesses and public sectors facing worker shortages that policymakers fear will fuel inflation. read more 

The new cases may delay those plans and are causing concern in the nation, which has struggled to get its population vaccinated.

Only about 23% of its 5 million people have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

"It's no longer clear Jacinda Ardern's strategy is the right one," read one opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald. 

Opposition National Party leader Judith Collins labelled the vaccination rollout as a failure. 

Experts also said vaccinating everyone was the way to return to some normalcy. 

"The virus is out there. We cannot go on thinking we will keep it out forever," said immunologist Graham Le Gros, Director of Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Programme Director at Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand. 

"I think what is critical is that as a nation we now seriously focus on getting as many people vaccinated as possible, it is the only way our country can return to normality for the sake of our health and people’s livelihoods."

New Zealand to enter lockdown after single COVID-19 case found

Via today.com, a report by The Associated Press: New Zealand to enter lockdown after single COVID-19 case found. Excerpt:

New Zealand's government took drastic action Tuesday by putting the entire nation into a strict lockdown for at least three days after finding a single case of coronavirus infection in the community. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern invoked some of the stirring rhetoric she used early in the pandemic by urging the “team of 5 million” — New Zealand's population — to go hard and early in trying to eliminate the latest outbreak. 

"We have seen what happens elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it," Ardern said. “We only get one chance.” 

She said Auckland, where the infected man lives, and Coromandel, where he had visited, would go into a full lockdown for seven days and the remainder of the country for three days while health experts tried to find the source of his infection.

The developments prompted people to line up outside supermarkets to stock up on essential items and sparked a sharp drop in the value of the New Zealand dollar.

New Zealand had managed to stamp out the virus, and the last outbreak was in February. But Ardern had been warning that the contagiousness of the delta variant would likely require more drastic action than previous outbreaks. 

New Zealand has also been slower than other developed nations to inoculate its population, leaving it vulnerable to outbreaks. Only 32 percent of people have had at least one shot and 18 percent are fully vaccinated.

Iran's daily COVID-19 deaths hit record high of 655

Via Reuters: Iran's daily COVID-19 deaths hit record high of 655 | Reuters.

DUBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Iran on Monday reported a record 655 COVID-19 deaths over the past 24 hours as the government started imposing tougher restrictions to combat a surge in coronavirus infections led by the highly contagious Delta variant, state TV reported. 

The health ministry said the total number of cases had reached 4,467,015 with 41,194 new cases in the past 24 hours, while total fatalities had increased to 98,483, state TV reported. 

All non-essential businesses and public offices across the Middle East's worst-hit country will be closed until Aug. 21, state TV said. 

Authorities have also imposed a travel ban between all Iranian cities from Sunday until Aug. 27, except for essential vehicles.

Health authorities have warned that daily deaths might reach 800 in coming weeks if Iranians fail to respect health protocols. 

The sharp surge in cases and deaths has forced the clerical establishment to allow imports of vaccines made by U.S. and British companies, which Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had forbidden in January. 

A health ministry official, Kianoush Jahanpour, said there was no ban on importing any approved COVID-19 vaccines into Iran "including AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer, other than those produced in the U.S. and the UK", Iranian media reported on Sunday. 

Social media users, inside and outside Iran, have accused the government of being slow to vaccinate people, with only over 4% of the 83 million population fully inoculated. Officials have blamed U.S. sanctions for hampering efforts to buy foreign vaccines and for delays in deliveries.

NSW COVID crisis deepens after record 319 new cases found, Armidale plunged into lockdown

Via ABC News: NSW COVID crisis deepens after record 319 new cases found, Armidale plunged into lockdown. Excerpt:

A record 319 infections were identified, five people died and the regional centre of Armidale was plunged into lockdown as NSW endured its darkest day of the COVID-19 pandemic yet.

Stay-at-home orders will be imposed on the Armidale Regional Council local government area (LGA) in the state's Northern Tablelands after two COVID-19 cases were found there on Friday. 

One of them was a close contact of a known case from the Newcastle area. 

The lockdown will start at 5:00pm on Saturday and will apply to all people in the LGA — which includes the major towns of Armidale and Guyra — and anyone who has visited the area since July 29. 

It will last until 12:01am on Sunday, August 15 and the rules will be the same as the lockdown already imposed on Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong, Shellharbour, the Hunter and Upper Hunter. 

The outbreak in the Hunter region now stands at 11, with four new cases recorded overnight — two of them University of Newcastle students. 

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard warned people in the area to stay home. 

"If I were living in the area I would not be going out of the house today," he said. 

"I would be staying at home. I would not be visiting friends, and I would be making sure that I protect myself and my family."

Australia: Anti-lockdown protesters march through Melbourne as city is sent into sixth lockdown

Via ABC News: Anti-lockdown protesters march through Melbourne as city is sent into sixth lockdown.

Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters have taken to Melbourne's streets hours after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a statewide lockdown fom 8:00pm on Thursday. 

The lockdown, Melbourne's sixth, triggered an angry response from hundreds of people.  

Demonstrators met near Flinders Street Station at around 7:00pm and moved into Swanston Street as police gathered to try to disperse them. 

Flares were lit and the crowd chanted several things including "freedom" and "no more lockdowns". 

The seven-day lockdown was called for after the state recorded eight new cases of the Delta variant in the latest reporting period.

Earlier in the day Mr Andrews described the decision to lock down again as "very difficult". 

"I can't tell you how disappointed I am to have to be here doing this again," he said. 

"But with so few in the community with one vaccination, let alone two, I have no choice but to accept advice, and we collectively [have] to make this important decision to keep Victorians safe. 

"The alternative is we let this run … away from us and our hospitals will be absolutely overwhelmed [with] not hundreds of patients but thousands." 

Victoria Police have been approached for comment.