New Zealand said on Tuesday that it has two new cases of the coronavirus. According to the prime minister, both related to recent travel from the UK.
Confirming the two new cases of the novel virus, PM Jacinda Ardern said they may come up in the future as New Zealanders return home. The health ministry also warns the new cases were related to the border as a result of recent travel from the UK. Both cases are connected, it said in a statement.
Reaching the COVID-free point, New Zealand lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls last week. The government has declared the country had no new or active cases of the coronavirus, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-COVID normality.
Further details on two new cases were expected in a news conference later on Tuesday. So far, New Zealand has had 22 deaths from the novel pathogen originated in China.
New Zealand’s 5 million people emerged from the epidemic while big economies such as Brazil, Britain, India and the United States continue to grapple with the fast spread of the corona.
This was largely due to strict restrictions in which most businesses were shut and everyone except essential workers had to stay home.
Last week, PM Ardern has been wary of saying the country was ‘COVID-free’ as the global epidemic raged around the world and new cases were likely to come to the country.
“I don’t want New Zealanders to believe that the battle is over when it is not,” Ardern said earlier this week.
