The New Zealand Labor Party-led government on Tuesday announced it was delaying plans to ease border restrictions, due to the threat posed by the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The New Zealand border has been closed to most travelers since March 2020. Citizens and residents can still enter the country, but are required to reserve space in one of the approximately 4,000 rooms at hotels converted to managed facilities isolation and quarantine (MIQ).
The government had planned to remove the requirement to stay at MIQ for double-vaccinated New Zealanders returning from Australia from January 17. Rather, we would ask them to “isolate themselves” at home. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the date would be postponed to the end of February. Additionally, people will now have to stay in MIQ for 10 days, up from 7.
Hipkins noted that when Omicron cases emerge in the community “we would expect them to spread quickly.” Despite this, he said “it is not our intention to move to containment, unless it is absolutely necessary in the event of a generalized epidemic where our health system is under considerable pressure. “
This is a stern warning that the government does not intend to prevent the new variant from spreading.
Yesterday there were 28 Omicron cases among people staying at MIQ, up from just one case a week earlier. Internationally, including in neighboring Australia, Omicron is booming as most governments have abandoned public health restrictions and adopted the homicidal policy of ‘herd immunity’, that is. ie mass infection.
Hipkins said the measures taken were aimed at “keeping Omicron from entering for as long as possible.” However, he is likely to escape from MIQ. Delta’s current outbreak in New Zealand began in August when an unknown person carried the MIQ virus into the community.
The government has put the population at increased risk by using hotels located in the centers of cities like Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch as MIQ facilities. He rejected calls for specially designed facilities in more remote areas.
In October, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the government was abandoning its previous policy of eliminating COVID-19 from the community, which had kept the country’s hospitalization and death rate among the lowest in the world.
In response to pressure from big business, lockdown measures in Auckland, the center of Delta’s outbreak, ended in early December and the government said the virus would spread nationwide.
These criminal rulings aim to make COVID-19 endemic, forcing the population to come to terms with ongoing deaths and serious illnesses. The death toll from COVID-19 in New Zealand has fallen from 26 to 49 since August. Last week, a South Auckland Maori boy, under the age of 10, became the youngest person to die from the virus.
Delta’s daily reported cases have fallen below 100 over the past fifteen weeks, with a total of 1,605 active cases in the past 21 days. The real numbers could be much higher; the virus is present in at least nine regions. Yesterday, a person who tested positive in Hutt Valley, Wellington and COVID-19 was detected in sewage in Whitianga and Napier, two popular vacation destinations, prompting more people to get tested. The number of tests has dropped significantly, from 202,718 in the last week of November to 152,683 in the past week.
The immense dangers of relying only on vaccines and minimal measures, such as masking, are highlighted by the emergence of Omicron, which has a much greater capacity to infect people who have been doubly vaccinated.
In New Zealand, 91% of people over the age of 12 received two doses of the vaccine, or 76% of the population. Only 5 percent of people received a third injection. Research from South Africa suggests that two doses of Pfizer are only 33% effective in preventing infection with Omicron and offer only 70% protection against serious illness.
The government says it aims to speed up the rollout of the third dose so that 82% of those currently vaccinated can receive the “booster” vaccine by the end of February. It will also make the vaccine available to children aged 5 to 11 on January 17.
Even though Omicron is less severe than Delta, which has not been confirmed, hospitals could still be overwhelmed due to the extremely rapid spread.
Scientists have warned that New Zealand’s current ‘COVID-19 protective framework’, known as the ‘traffic light’ system, which replaced locks, will not stop Omicron. Under the highest setting, “red”, all businesses and schools can remain open. Mitigation measures are limited to the use of vaccine passes for entry to certain sites, limits on the size of gatherings, and certain physical distancing and masking requirements.
Epidemiologist Michael Baker bluntly said Writing“We largely turned our backs on public health and social measures and relied on vaccines. I think Omicron is really showing us that we can’t do this right now.
Public health expert professor Nick Wilson told the Science Media Center that the government should restore the “alert level” system, which included blockages, “so that it can quickly eliminate any outbreak of the Omicron variant.”
Dr Matthew Hobbs, senior lecturer in public health at the University of Canterbury, said MIQ systems needed to be strengthened and “the vaccination requirement for arrivals could be increased to 3 doses of the vaccine to reduce the risk from Omicron in New Zealand. “
Representatives of large companies, however, are not demanding a withdrawal from the reopening program. Representatives of the airline board of directors of New Zealand executive director Justin Tighe-Umbers told the New Zealand Herald the delay in reopening the border was “a blow to the tourism sector”. He spoke favorably of the lifting of travel restrictions in most of Australia, despite “record cases”.
Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope told Radio NZ that the country needs to “re-integrate into the world,” complaining: “We have investors who are sitting overseas who are ready to come here and to invest large sums in New Zealand.
National Opposition COVID-19 Party spokesman Chris Bishop said: ‘The sooner we can get back to the plan of allowing fully vaccinated travelers to enter New Zealand without entering MIQ, the better. will be.
Meanwhile, as Delta continues to spread, the government is encouraging appeasement as much as possible. That didn’t change the decision to remove limits on public gatherings in Auckland on New Years Eve.
Prime Minister Ardern herself is said to have planned a lavish wedding in the coming weeks with her fiancé, TV personality Clarke Gayford, on a farm owned by hedge fund billionaire John Griffin, with singer-songwriter Lorde which should occur during the event.
