New Zealand Extends Strict Lockdown As COVID-19 Cases Continue to Rise

The ‘Zero-COVID’ strategy is passing with flying colors once again.

When I say passing with flying colors, that means governments enforcing the policy are doing a fantastic job squashing individual freedoms and human rights.

That’s what gets eliminated, not COVID-19.

New Zealand is among the countries that took the Zero-COVID approach thinking they could 100% eradicate COVID-19.

However, a recent string of cases showed how it’s a foolish policy.

To fight the latest outbreak, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a 3-day nationwide lockdown over one new COVID-19 case.

#BREAKING | New Zealand to enter 3-day lockdown after new case of COVID detected pic.twitter.com/HSBXmmfKQo

— Ticker News (@tickerNEWSco) August 17, 2021

Predictably, the lockdown wasn’t three days.

After an extension last week, the lockdown is extended a second time this week.

Check it out:

New Zealand's government says it will extend a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak. https://t.co/jrjG9B9tWB

— ABC News (@ABC) August 24, 2021

No surprise

“New Zealand's government on Monday said it will extend a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday “

Madness https://t.co/ClZ0xPUUY4

— 🇨🇦Schtev🍎 (@schtev69) August 23, 2021

#NewZealand's government on Monday said it will extend a strict nationwide #lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing #CoronavirusOutbreak. #lockdownnz #newzealandlockdown #COVID19https://t.co/h3NjaRMn6Q

— The Pioneer (@TheDailyPioneer) August 23, 2021

Delta variant outbreak sees New Zealand extend #COVID19 lockdown while neighbor Australia pushes for greater vaccination uptakehttps://t.co/HrgYT2GKg0

— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) August 23, 2021

And LOL re this reporter's advocacy for wearing a mask and *SCANNING QR codes*

— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) August 24, 2021

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, I’m afraid New Zealand is on the verge of descending into a vicious totalitarian state.

Exactly like the one we’ve witnessed in Australia.

Because the obsession with Zero-COVID has transformed governments into tyrannical despots.

ABC News had the story:

New Zealand’s government on Monday said it will extend a strict nationwide lockdown until at least Friday as it tries to extinguish a growing coronavirus outbreak.

The news came as health authorities 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’ve found links among most of those cases, giving them hope they can quash the outbreak. Authorities said they’ve tested about 3% of the nation’s entire population over the past six days.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the lockdown will continue until at least the end of the month in Auckland, where most of the cases have been found.

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“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.”

Ardern said modeling suggested the outbreak should peak in a few days’ time, and then decline.

One of the reasons lockdowns are considered essential in New Zealand in that inoculation 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.

Ardern also announced that the government has decided to suspend regular Parliament sessions for a week, a move that drew criticism from opposition lawmakers.

“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,” said Judith Collins, the leader of the opposition.

While New Zealand was maintaining its strategy of trying to wipe out the virus completely through lockdowns, neighboring Australia appeared 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 lockdowns are were “not a sustainable way to live in this country.” He said states must open their borders once vaccination rates reach 80% of the population aged 16 years and older.