On Sunday, New Zealand marked 100 days without any recorded case of community transmission of COVID-19.
In this South Pacific nation, the first case of COVID-19 was detected on February 26 and the last one detected on May 1. They took just 65 days to eliminate the virus.
Worldwide, the total number of coronavirus cases is increasing, in the US it crossed 5 million on Sunday. In contrast, New Zealand has only 1,219 reported cases. Out of them, there are just 23 active cases. All of these cases were detected at the border of the country and are being held in managed isolation facilities.
Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield said, “Achieving 100 days without community transmission is a significant milestone, however, as we all know, we can’t afford to be complacent,”
“We have seen overseas how quickly the virus can re-emerge and spread in places where it was previously under control, and we need to be prepared to quickly stamp out any future cases in New Zealand,”
New Zealand, with a population of 5 million effectively handled this situation. They managed to do this by taking timely, aggressive measures to stop the spread of the virus.
The WHO has hailed the country for “successfully eliminated community transmission”.
