{"id":4536,"date":"2020-08-16T21:59:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T14:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illume-emag.com\/?p=4536"},"modified":"2020-08-16T21:59:24","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T14:59:24","slug":"new-zealands-covid-19-outbreak-grows-australian-cases-ease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/new-zealands-covid-19-outbreak-grows-australian-cases-ease\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand’s COVID-19 outbreak grows, as Australian cases ease"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE — A new coronavirus outbreak in New Zealand is still growing, health officials said on Sunday, with the country that had an early triumph over the pandemic recording 13 new cases and putting the September general election in question.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Morning traffic passes a warning sign on the first day of all New Zealand domestic regulations being lifted for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nelson, New Zealand, June 9, 2020. Photo: Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

After stifling the virus earlier this year before it became a public health crisis and after 102 days without new infections, an abrupt resurgence last week in Auckland prompted an immediate lockdown of the country\u2019s largest city.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s numbers bring New Zealand\u2019s total active cases to 69, providing more ammunition to a conservative opposition that wants to delay a Sept. 19 general election, which opinion polls show Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern\u2019s Labour Party winning.<\/p>\n

Ardern is expected to resist a delay but has said she will decide by Monday..<\/p>\n

Health Minister John Hipkins told a media briefing on Sunday that the government was working to ensure adequate supplies of masks, which are currently recommended but not mandatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could make it compulsory and spend a lot of time on enforcement, what we need here is a cultural acceptance amongst all New Zealanders,\u201d Hipkins said.<\/p>\n

In neighbouring Australia, which has also been struggling with a resurgence of the coronavirus in two of its largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, there were signs of a further downward trend.<\/p>\n

New South Wales reported just five new cases, while Victoria, where masks became compulsory in July after the state became the centre of the country\u2019s largest outbreak, reported 279 new cases on Sunday, along with 16 more deaths.<\/p>\n

The daily number of new cases this week has been well below the peak of 725 on Aug. 5. Melbourne, the state\u2019s capital, remains under a strict lockdown.<\/p>\n

Speaking before Victoria announced its daily tally, Australia\u2019s Health Minister Greg Hunt said the state still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the signs now are that the trend is of progressive reduction,\u201d Hunt told\u00a0Sky News<\/em>\u00a0television.<\/p>\n

He also said the federal government is close to striking a deal that would permit the production of a vaccine in Australia, likely in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am now, on the basis of our best advice, genuinely more optimistic,\u201d Hunt said, without giving more details.<\/p>\n

Source: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE — A new coronavirus outbreak in New Zealand is still growing, health officials said on Sunday, with the country that had an early triumph over the pandemic recording 13 new cases and putting the September general election in question. Morning traffic passes a warning sign on the first day of all New Zealand domestic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[1087,1123],"class_list":{"0":"post-4536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity-buzz","8":"tag-coronavirus","9":"tag-covid-19"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}