Jacinda Ardern extends ‘unfathomable’ New Zealand lockdown while Australia aims to reopen borders

New Zealand‘s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has extended the country’s tough Covid lockdown until at least Friday 27 August as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak.

Health authorities on Monday reported 35 new local infections of the fast-spreading Delta variant, the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in New Zealand since April last year.

First discovered last week, the outbreak has grown to 107 cases but health authorities say they have found links among most of those cases, giving them hope they can quash the outbreak.

Ardern said the lockdown will continue until at least the end of the month in Auckland where most of the cases have been found – a move which has been ruthlessly criticised by her opposition as ‘unfathomable’.

‘We do need more information. We need more certainty. We don’t want to take any risks with Delta,’ Ardern said.

‘If the world has taught us anything, it is to be cautious with this variant of Covid-19.’

While New Zealand has been one of the most successful countries in battling the Coronavirus, their vaccination rates remain low with only about 20% of people fully vaccinated.

The strict lockdown means most people must remain at home, leaving only to buy groceries or medicine, or to exercise.

The lockdown extension has been harshly condemned by opposition leader Judith Collins: ‘At a time when New Zealanders have the harshest lockdown in the world and have lost our freedoms because of the government’s failure to vaccinate and secure the border, this move by Jacinda Ardern is unfathomable.’

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister unintentionally offered the Kiwis some comic relief as he encouraged citizens to socially distance when they go outside and ‘spread their legs’. 

‘It is a challenge for people in high density areas to get outside and spread their legs when they are surrounded by other people’ the minister said, before declaring he would go and ‘stretch his legs’ and that the media ‘would all have fun with him later’.

The hashtag #spreadyourlegs was quickly embraced by Kiwis who lit up social media with various memes and posts at the minister’s expense.  

While New Zealand maintains its strategy of trying to wipe out the virus completely through lockdowns, Australia appears to have conceded that lockdowns would not be able to eliminate the Delta variant entirely and could only slow its spread.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that lockdowns are ‘not a sustainable way to live in this country’, and declared states must open their borders once vaccination rates reach 80% of the population aged 16 years and older.

But in Western Australia, where there are no community infections, premier Mark McGowan said his government would not reopen at the 80% vaccination level if it meant reintroducing the virus.

About 24% of Australians are fully vaccinated.

Prime Minister Morrison’s remarks this weekend came as an outbreak in Sydney grew by more than 800 cases, near record levels.

Health authorities said an outbreak centred in Melbourne also grew by 71 cases and another in the capital, Canberra, grew by 16 cases.

All three cities remain in lockdown despite widespread protests which have left a number of police officers injured in violent clashes with protestors. 

Police used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on demonstrators in Melbourne and arrested more than 200 people after an anti-lockdown rally on Saturday descended into a riot.

More than 4,000 people turned up to the ‘freedom rally’ in the Australian city on Saturday morning, and by late afternoon six officers has been hospitalised – including two with suspected broken noses, one with a broken thumb and the others with concussions – and 218 protesters arrested. 

Police issued 236 fines for breaching coronavirus restrictions, and have three people in custody for assaulting police. 

Smaller protests also erupted in Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns.