The PM’s laissez-faire attitude to Coronavirus will have serious repercussions for us. Her opinion, that when Coronavirus shows “sustained community transmission” she will do something about it, will of course be much too late for containment.
“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there is no evidence of sustained community transmission of coronavirus in New Zealand, as public health specialist says containment measures should be ramped up.
Radio NZ
Professor Michael Baker from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, is warning that the disruption caused by the Covid-19 virus could continue for up to two years, but “New Zealand still has time to contain the virus.”
Professor Baker is not alone in thinking NZ can and should introduce stronger prevention measures. Keith Woodford agrees.
“Currently, the biggest risk that New Zealand is not dealing with is from Europe. Restrictions on travel from Europe need to be immediate. It should have already occurred.”
Interest.co.nz
Woodford is referring to northern Italy where containment measures were not put in place early enough.
“…it [Coronavirus] is now running rife across all of Northern Europe, and also spreading out rapidly from there. Italian authorities have now barricaded Milan and the North from the rest of Italy, but it is too late.”
Woodford also calls for restrictions on the cruise ships freely arriving and departing and air travel restriction put in place for people arriving from Europe, probably North Africa and possibly Australia.
“The evidence that cruise ships can become hotbeds of viral activity is now very clear. It only needs one person out of several thousand on a ship to be incubating the disease and from there it exponentiates.
I find it remarkable that cruise ships are still coming to New Zealand and visitors coming ashore.
Disease progression in North America is only about one week behind Europe. Travel restrictions from there are also needed.
Australia also needs close scrutiny. Currently there are already 80 cases, and the incidence per person of population is three times that in New Zealand. Australia could well go out of control in coming days. Another week and it may well be too late.”
So travel restrictions are the most obvious preventative measure along with introducing a lengthier quarantine period. The current 14 day self-imposed quarantine should be extended to 30 days. Northern Italy is in lockdown.
Italy’s interior ministry announced severe penalties for any Italians who attempt to flee the lockdown in the north. Anyone leaving the “containment regions” risks three months in prison, or a fine of up to 206 euros ($234), Luciana Lamorgese said.
Italy saw a dramatic spike of 1,247 confirmed novel coronavirus cases on Saturday, the Civil Protection Department said in a statement. The number of cases in the country has now reached 7,375, with 366 deaths — the highest number of fatalities outside mainland China, and the biggest outbreak in Europe.
The move puts the entire Lombardy region, as well as 14 other provinces, under travel restrictions; it is one of the toughest responses implemented outside of mainland China to get the COVID-19 epidemic under control.
CNN
What must happen for the PM to swing into action over Coronavirus? She paid far more attention to unnecessary gun law reform in her knee jerk reaction to the Christchurch massacre compared to the scant attention given Covid-19.
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