With recovery of last case, New Zealand has eradicated virus
The Associated Press
FILE – In this April 17, 2020, file photo, a man reacts as a medical staffer tests shoppers who volunteered at a pop-up community COVID-19 testing station at a supermarket carpark in Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday June 8, 2020 that the final person known to have contracted an infection had recovered. (AP Photo/Mark Baker,File)
FILE – In this April 17, 2020, file photo, Medical staff test shoppers who volunteered at a pop-up community COVID-19 testing station at a supermarket carpark in Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday June 8, 2020 that the final person known to have contracted an infection had recovered. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
FILE – In this April 17, 2020, file photo, shoppers line up at a pop-up community COVID-19 testing station at a supermarket carpark in Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday June 8, 2020 that the final person known to have contracted an infection had recovered. (AP Photo/Mark Baker,File)
FILE – In this May 14, 2020, file photo, passengers wait to board their flight at Christchurch Airport in Christchurch, New Zealand.New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday June 8, 2020 that the final person known to have contracted an infection had recovered. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
A man walks across the frost covered fairways of a golf course in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday, June 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she was confident New Zealand has halted the spread of the coronavirus after the last known infected person in the country recovered.
It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported, while 40,000 have been tested in that time. And Monday also marked the first time since late February that there have been no active cases.
Ardern also announced the Cabinet had agreed to another phase of the country’s reopening, to take place at midnight.
“We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort,” she said at a news conference. “We almost certainly will see cases here again, and I do want to say again, we will almost certainly see cases here again, and that is not a sign that we have failed, it is a reality of this virus. But if and when that occurs we have to make sure and we are, that we are prepared.”
She said her government’s focus will be on the country’s borders, where isolation and quarantine will continue.
Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation of 5 million wipe out the disease. Its isolated location in the South Pacific gave it vital time to see how outbreaks spread in other countries, and Ardern acted decisively by imposing a strict lockdown early in the outbreak.
Just over 1,500 people contracted the virus in New Zealand, including 22 who died.
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