New Zealand Discharges Last COVID-19 Patient

After the discharge of a patient from Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, New Zealand marks two new milestones – no hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and no new cases in five consecutive days. The number of cases still active in the country comes in at 21, with the total number of recoveries surpassing 1,450. 

21 Cases Left in New Zealand 

New Zealand has conducted 267,435 coronavirus tests and has been monitoring the remaining cases through its COVID Tracer app. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center notes that New Zealand has dealt with the pandemic much better than most, with only around 1,500 confirmed cases and 21 deaths for the duration of the pandemic. 

The country has been slowly reopening after the closure of its borders, which public health official Dr. Ashley Bloomfield said was pivotal in keeping the infection out. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in late April said that the country had “won” the battle against the widespread transmission of the virus, albeit warning that the remaining cases must be “hunted down,” before everything can go back to normal. 

Ardern has been praised for how she’s handled the pandemic and the economic blows dealt by it, with an announcement last month that she and other top officials will be taking a 20% pay cut for the next six months.