Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand is unwilling to risk a British-style “coexistence with Covid” policy | New Zealand

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New Zealand rejected the suggestion that it should follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom to “coexist with Covid-19,” saying the death level proposed by New Zealand Boris Johnson Would be “unacceptable”.

If the number of cases in the UK surges due to the abolition of regulations, new Zealand You can also consider including the country on the no-fly list.

Monday, Johnson Announce It plans to abolish regulations including masks and social distancing by July 19, Said that Britain must “learn to coexist with the virus.” He said that Covid cases may reach 50,000 per day in two weeks. “Unfortunately, we must reconcile ourselves to deal with more deaths caused by Covid.”

“This is not something we are willing to accept in New Zealand,” the country’s Covid-19 response minister Chris Shipkins said at a press conference with the prime minister. Jacinda Ardern, Tuesday.

“One thing the British government knows very well [is] The number of cases will increase sharply, and there may be thousands of cases every day. More people will die,” he said.

“We may see more gradual changes than we wake up in the morning and say:’We are just going back to what we were before Covid-19.'”

When asked whether the country would accept death from the new coronavirus, Ardern said: “Different countries are making different choices.

“For me, the top priority is how we continue to protect what New Zealand has achieved and provide ourselves with options, because this virus has not yet been eliminated worldwide.”

Health Director-General Ashley Bloomfield (Ashley Bloomfield) said on Wednesday that New Zealand will “watch closely” and may put Britain on the no-fly list if cases get out of control.

“If their cases do increase, we will pay close attention to what this means for people traveling from the UK, which will provide a reference for our decision,” he said.

Was asked if this would cause the flight to be suspended because New Zealand did it with India in April, He said: “We actually review the risk profile of all countries/regions every week, so it’s clear that if the number of cases increases, this is one of the things we will pay close attention to.”

Epidemiologist and public health professor Michael Baker said New Zealand’s future roadmap could be based on a mix of high vaccination and other measures, such as mandatory masks or restrictive lockdowns to control the epidemic. He said that the country is in a “privileged position” and can make wise choices about whether to continue to eliminate methods or change strategies.

“Through each indicator [New Zealand’s elimination approach] From a public health perspective, fairness perspective, freedom perspective… From an economic perspective, it performs better than other alternatives. “

Australia’s current response and New Zealand’s response in practice are still very consistent, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s remarks have recently shifted to some extent from Johnson’s position.Morrison outlined last week Australia’s four-phase reopening road map, Speaking of the third stage, Covid will be regarded as influenza or “any other infectious disease”.

Baker said that the UK’s re-allowing of Covid’s unrestricted spread has made public health professionals “uncomfortable” and that “coexisting with” is a “meaningless slogan” that fails to convey the consequences of millions of infections or alternative Used to manage viruses.

He said: “We often absorb a lot of our words from Europe and North America, and they do manage the pandemic very badly.” “I don’t think we have to follow or accept what Boris Johnson and his colleagues said: “Oh, we must Learn to coexist with viruses. “

“We always have to be skeptical about learning lessons from countries that have failed very badly.”

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