- The Covid-19 response minister doubts the effectiveness of the country’s ambitious elimination plan.
- 72 community instances have been documented so far, with over 300 possible exposure places.
- New Zealand could move to a suppression strategy, which aims to keep the number of cases very low, later in the year or early next year.
The arrival of the Delta strain in New Zealand has prompted the country’s Covid-19 response minister to question the efficacy of its ambitious elimination strategy – an approach that has been the backbone of the country’s pandemic response, says an article published in The Guardian.
New Zealand’s minister for Covid responses, Chris Hipkins, stated that Delta raised “big questions about the long-term future of our plans.”
“It does mean that all of our existing protections … start to look less adequate and less robust. As a result of that, we are looking very closely at what more we can do there. At some point, we will have to start to be more open in the future”, he said
Lockdown Scenario
There have been 72 community instances documented so far, with over 300 possible exposure places, including schools, universities, hospitals, churches, bars, restaurants, airports, and casinos. According to genome sequencing, nearly 10,000 close contacts are being tested across the country. Health officials are now looking into a walkway near the quarantine facility’s exercise area, which is fenced off from the public and marked with road cones.
Elimination Strategy
New Zealand has been watching as elimination success stories throughout the Asia-Pacific region combat the Delta type for the past two months. Hong Kong, Australia, China, Taiwan, and Singapore had all achieved or were close to achieving elimination.
Delta landed on them all, and many of them strained to keep it at bay. In the medium term, epidemiologist Michael Baker stated, an eradication approach is necessary until more people are vaccinated.
“In many ways, we are buying time to learn more about how to manage this virus longer term.”
That could move to a suppression strategy, which aims to keep the number of cases very low, later in the year or early next year, Baker said.
Contact tracing
The digital tracing of contact was perhaps caused by a sense of complacency since the country was protected against coronavirus.
According to Dr. Andrew Chen of the University of Auckland think tank Koi T: Centre for Informed Futures, modeling from the Te Punaha Matatini research institute revealed that at least 60%, ideally 80%, of people must participate in digital contact tracking to have a meaningful impact on the repeatability rate of Covid-19. Only 10% of New Zealanders used QR codes before the current outbreak, while 35% and 40% used Bluetooth tracing.
He added, “With the Delta variant, we need that participation rate to be higher than ever.”
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Source: The Guardian
