New Zealand COVID-19 cases drop for second day amid lockdowns

Wellington

New Zealand's government on Tuesday reported that newCOVID-19 cases fell for a second day, down to 49, amid the tight lockdown thecountry undertook during the latest outbreak this month.

Except for a small number of cases in February, New Zealandwas mainly coronavirus-free for months, until an outbreak of the Delta variantimported from Australia prompted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to order a snapnationwide lockdown on Aug. 17.

The total number of cases in the outbreak is at 612, with597 in New Zealand's largest city of Auckland and 15 in the capital Wellington.

The declining number of daily cases signals that the socialrestrictions are reducing the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant,Ardern said in a news conference.

"We have a second day where our numbers have declined.We want the tail of this outbreak to be as short as possible," Ardernsaid.

Around 1.7 million Aucklanders will remain in strict level 4lockdown for another two weeks, while restrictions for the remainder of thecountry will ease slightly from Wednesday.

Police placed checkpoints at the outskirts of Auckland toensure no non-essential movement was allowed into the city.

Police also said they had arrested 19 people on Tuesdayfollowing anti-lockdown protest around the country.

There are now 33 people in hospitals from the latest Deltaoutbreak, the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said, with eightcases in stable condition in intensive care.

"It is sobering to see six cases in the outbreak areunder the age of one," he said

But he added that the public health measures in place wereslowing the spread of the virus and cases will continue to decline.

Ardern's lockdowns, along with closing the internationalborder from March 2020, were credited with reining in COVID-19.

However, the government now faces questions over a delayedvaccine rollout, as well as rising costs in a country heavily reliant on animmigrant workforce.