Jacinda

A coronavirus case that plunged New Zealand into a snap national lockdown was confirmed as the Delta variant Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, as four more cases emerged.

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Ardern said one of the new cases was a nurse at Auckland Hospital, which had been placed in "internal lockdown" while all staff and patients were tested.

New Zealand suspended quarantine-free travel with Australia's Victoria state over a new coronavirus cluster on May 25, the fourth time the trans-Tasman travel bubble has been disrupted since it opened last month.

New Zealand has approved quarantine-free travel with Australia, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on April 6, completing a two-way corridor for travel between the largely COVID-free neighbors.

"I can confirm that quarantine-free travel will begin in just under two weeks, at 11:59 p.m. on April 18," Ardern announced after the date was confirmed by her cabinet.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern accused Australia of shirking its responsibility for a dual national arrested in Turkey over links with ISIL.

In an unusually blunt message to her counterpart Scott Morrison, Ardern said Canberra was "wrong" to expect New Zealand to accept the woman, who have strong ties to Australia.

Britain's coronavirus vaccination program has covered all its main target groups of vulnerable people, it said on Feb. 14, hours after New Zealand, so far largely spared by the pandemic, put its largest city into lockdown.

Teargas and bullets in the U.S. Capitol building. Outrage, confusion and condemnation from leaders across the world.

"What is happening is wrong," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement. "Democracy, the right of people to exercise a vote, have their voice heard and then have that decision upheld peacefully, should never be undone by a mob."

According to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, this goal was achieved out of ambition, but also out of fear, because even at the beginning of the pandemic, it was concluded that the health system would not be able to cope with the progressive epidemic, the AP reported.

New Zealand has declared a climate change emergency and committed to a carbon-neutral government by 2025, in what the prime minister Jacinda Ardern called "one of the greatest challenges of our time".

The total number of people killed by the novel coronavirus around the world passed 750,000 on Aug. 13, with some countries toughening control measures as caseloads once again creep up.    

Latin America and the Caribbean region remains the global epicenter, accounting for almost one-third of all deaths and housing two of the worst-affected countries - Mexico and Brazil.    

New Zealand declared no known active COVID-19 cases on Monday, with the country due to relax nearly all of its coronavirus restrictions.

A statement from the Ministry of Health said the last remaining case, a woman from Auckland, has now been symptom-free for 48 hours and is regarded as recovered.