New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said on Thursday that Auckland’s health situation is likely to worsen after a new COVID-19 outbreak.
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“As we all learned from our first experience with COVID, once you identify a cluster, it grows before it slows. We should expect that to be the case here,” Arden said in a press brief.
On Tuesday, New Zealand registered a new infection cluster after 102 days without community transmission. As of Wednesday, 17 Aucklanders have tested positive.
The city carried out a three-day lockdown as a precautionary action against a wide-spreading. On Friday, the government would decide if it is to impose a level-three extended quarantine.
All active cases, toll at 36, must comply with mandatory isolation in government quarantine facilities, a measure that overturns home-isolation or hospitalization for those who tested positive.
“We can see the seriousness of the situation we are in. It’s being dealt with in an urgent but calm and methodical way,” Arden added.
As of Thursday, New Zealand health authorities registered 1,589 COVID-19 cases, 22 deaths, and 1,531 recoveries from the virus.