New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a strict three-day national lockdown after a sole Auckland resident tested positive this week for COVID-19, according to The Associated Press.
The nation’s largest city – Auckland – and the city where the unvaccinated man had been – Coromandel – will be in lockdown for a full seven days, however.
This was the first time a case of coronavirus was identified in the country since this past February. New Zealand’s death toll since the start of the pandemic stands at 26.
The prime minister had been warning that the super-contagious Delta variant would be likely to require a more drastic response than previous variants of the virus.
Ardern told reporters, “We have seen what happens elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it.”
The prime minister wasn’t wrong. Ardern told Radio New Zealand late Tuesday that four new cases of COVID-19 had been identified, and confirmed as Delta variant.