New Zealand's Largest City Enters Lockdown As UK Variant Found

New Zealand's biggest city began a snap three-day lockdown Monday, forcing two million people to stay at home, as authorities scrambled to contain the nation's first outbreak of the highly contagious UK variant

Auckland, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Feb, 2021 ) :New Zealand's biggest city began a snap three-day lockdown Monday, forcing two million people to stay at home, as authorities scrambled to contain the nation's first outbreak of the highly contagious UK variant.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered the 72-hour lockdown for Auckland after three family members were found to be infected in the North Island city.

Schools and non-essential businesses have been forced to close and residents barred from leaving the city except for a few essential reasons.

The health ministry said genomic sequencing has since showed two of the cases were caused by the strain that was first detected in Britain. Tests from the third person were still pending.

"This result reinforces the decision to take swift and robust action around the latest cases to detect and stamp out the possibility of any further transmission," the ministry said.

Authorities said testing of the family's close contacts had so far found no further cases, raising hopes the lockdown will end quickly.

But health officials are still unsure how the strain entered the largely coronavirus-free country.

New Zealand's director-general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said the initial focus was on the mother's workplace -- at a company providing laundry services to international flights -- "because of its obvious connections to the border".

He cautioned it was "too soon to rule in or out" any source of transmission and the woman had not been at work for eight days before testing positive.