Some of you will know that my previous post was a little boastful about how well New Zealand was doing with respect to the Coronavirus pandemic. When I wrote that, we had just passed the 100 day mark without any community transmission. That meant life here in Godzone was pottering along quite nicely with absolutely no restrictions on movement. Live sport with big crowds was back and so were large gatherings such as weddings and even concerts and political meetings. Meanwhile there has been a very close watch on our border, with everyone entering the country obliged to go into a supervided 14-day quarantine.

All of that came to a sudden shock stop yesterday with reports that a family of six in South Auckland had four members (Mum, Dad and two children) who had tested positive for COVID Worst of all, no one has any idea where they acquired the virus. No one in this family has travelled overseas, worked at an entry port or been close to the quarantine hotels where returning travellers are housed.

To complicate matters further, in the previous week Mum and Dad had both been at their respective workplaces in different parts of Auckland and four members of the family had visited Rotorua for a few days as tourists.

The government has responded swiftly. There was a full briefing last night by the PM and the Director-General of Health who set out the facts as known at that time and the preliminary course of action to be taken. That action included a return to Alert Level 3 for the whole Auckland 'Super-City' of more that 1.5 million people. The rest of the country was put back into Level 2, and of course a full scale tracking and tracing operation went into top gear. Those precautions will run at least until Friday, which will give authorities time to carry out investigations and assess the severity of any community spread. It is widely accepted that some parts of the country will remain at heightened alert levels for several weeks until we can stamp out this outbreak.

To complicate things further, our General Election is a mere five weeks away. Already there have been calls for that to be delayed.

It all goes to show that this virus is sneaky and unpredictable, but that swift and decisive action can keep it controlled. Life goes on pretty much as normal for the majority of Kiwis, but with heightened vigilance and respect for this nasty disease.

For the record:

Total cases: 1579
Active Cases: 26
Total Deaths: 22
In Hospital: 0

NB The active cases are all in quarantine or managed isolation.