Jacinda Ardern Postpones Election In New Zealand Over Coronavirus Fears

The current Prime /minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern has recently decided to postpone the election in New Zealand that were scheduled to be conducted on September 19, but due to the new coronavirus cases diagnosed in the region after 102 days of being a virus-free region, the general elections will now be conducted on October 17. According to Jacinda Ardern, this new due date of the general elections will allow the concerning parties to plan their campaign accordingly with the current circumstances of the country.

Due to the recently diagnosed coronavirus cases in one single household, with no history to travel, the largest city of the country Auckland has been put under lockdown and government postpones election in New Zealand to prevent another wave of the deadly infectious disease. This decision has been taken unanimously, as it helps and provides the participating parties more time for the upcoming nine weeks for their campaign.

As Prime Minister postpones election in New Zealand, this would provide the electoral commission sufficient time to ensure safe and smooth elections of this year while following all preventive precautions against the coronavirus pandemic. PM Ardern has no intension of allowing any further extension of the date for the general election, but the opposition National Party has continually argued for the general elections to be as delayed as possible, as postpones election in New Zealand would provide an unfair advantage to PM Ardern.

Lockdown in New Zealand due to the comeback of coronavirus

New restrictions were implemented in the largest city of New Zealand last week, as new coronavirus cases were diagnosed in a single household in Auckland, which might be the result of community transmission. On Monday, nine new confirmed coronavirus cases have been diagnosed across the city, which brought the number of currently active cases in the country to 58. This recent outbreak of coronavirus in Auckland has been traced back to the members of the same household in the city, and later by using the contact tracing, the comeback of coronavirus in New Zealand involves a shopkeeper who came in contact with coronavirus on July 31.

A health care official, who knew the family with four coronavirus cases in a single house, told the reporters that the family is completely shaking that this incident took place with them along with being embarrassed that this happened to them. The announcement last week regarding new coronavirus cases in the country had shocked the general citizens, as no new locally transmitted coronavirus case was reported in the last three months, which has also led towards postponing the election in New Zealand.

According to the government of New Zealand, there are four alert levels regarding the severity of coronavirus pandemic, and since the implementation of new lockdown restrictions in Auckland, the city has been put under Level 3, and the rest of the country will be on Level 2. Before these new cases were identified in the Auckland, the government of the country has almost lifted the lockdown restrictions across the country, as no new cases were diagnosed in the last 102 days except 22 travelers that came from abroad but were immediately put in isolation at a quarantine facility near the border.

Across New Zealand, since the pandemic began, more than 1,600 coronavirus cases have been diagnosed, out of which 22 patients have died after suffering from severe symptoms. To prevent further transmission of the infection which might ultimately become into the second wave of coronavirus, the government has implemented an early lockdown period, increased and tough security restrictions on the border along with effective healthcare messaging and aggressive program for test and tracing of the coronavirus infection which has also lead towards postponing the election in New Zealand.

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