Coronavirus cases rising in New Zealand, Australia

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – The coronavirus cases are rising in New Zealand and Australia despite anti-COVID-19 measures adopted by the respective governments.

Addressing a news conference aired live from Auckland, New Zealand's Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield said 12 fresh cases of the infection were reported in the community and “all are linked to cluster cases detected in the capital”.

One more case has been marked as “probable” -- keeping today’s total case load as 13.

New Zealand reported no local coronavirus case for 102 consecutive days until last Tuesday when four cases were found.

A streak of new cases -- at least 30 -- linked to the Tuesday's cases were found in the past few days.

The health authorities have stepped up contact tracing of the cases to stem spread of the infection.

Besides, almost 1.2 million New Zealanders -- almost one in five New Zealanders -- have downloaded the “Covid Tracer app” to help find the cases.

New Zealand has reported 1,602 cases, while 22 people have died due to the infection. The country has conducted over half a million coronavirus tests to determine the illness.

The government has imposed lockdown in capital after fresh cases were detected early this week.

--Australia

In neighboring Australia, health authorities said 384 new cases were reported in the country – 372 alone in Victoria state -- in the past 24 hours taking national case load to 22,741.

The latest COVID-19 statement by the country’s Health Ministry said 14 more patients lost their life due to the infection – all of them in Victoria, the worst-hit region in the country. There has been no recovery of any patient during this period.

Of the total cases, 12,809 patients have recovered and released from health facilities, while 376 COVID-19 positive patients have lost their lives in the country.

To stem the spread of the infection, lockdown has been imposed in Melbourne and "state of disaster" declared in Victoria.

Australia has conducted over 50 million tests to determine the coronavirus infection. It has also launched COVID-19 tracing app to find the contacts of the coronavirus positive cases.

- Worldwide

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 751,400 lives in 188 countries and regions since it was first detected in China last December.

The US, Brazil, India, and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries in the world.

Nearly 20.73 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 12.87 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.