Coronavirus live updates: Senate adjourns until September without reaching deal on relief aid

New Zealand is extending lockdown restrictions for an extra 12 days after detecting a dozen further coronavirus circumstances linked to an Auckland cluster that ended the nation’s three-month streak with no group transmission.

Underneath the present laws, residents of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest metropolis, are barred from leaving their properties for any nonessential journeys; they’re additionally required to put on masks in public. The remainder of the nation is being requested to put on face coverings when social distancing isn’t potential and to keep away from giant occasions.

Over the previous week, New Zealand has discovered itself in an analogous place to elements of neighboring Australia, which additionally appeared to have come near defeating the virus earlier than new circumstances bubbled up. However New Zealand had made way more progress, going greater than 100 days with none group unfold and lifting nearly all stay-at-home orders. With roughly 30 circumstances linked to the brand new cluster, New Zealand’s outbreak remains to be a lot smaller than the a whole bunch of circumstances being reported every day within the Australian scorching spot of Melbourne.

The brand new infections in New Zealand have been linked to at least one Auckland household, and well being officers stated Friday that genome testing indicated that the virus might have been imported from Britain or Australia. The household on the heart of the cluster has not traveled overseas, nevertheless, and the way they grew to become contaminated stays unclear.

“This means this isn’t a case of the virus being dormant, or of a burning ember in our group,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated Friday. “It seems to be new to New Zealand.”

New Zealand’s parliamentary election is scheduled to happen in September, and Ardern has confronted calls to postpone the date. At Friday’s briefing, she pledged to decide within the subsequent 48 hours.