WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday she was confident New Zealand has halted the spread of the coronavirus after the last known infected person in the country recovered.
It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported in New Zealand, and Monday also marked the first time since late February that there have been no active cases.
New Zealand has tested almost 40,000 people in the past 17 days and no one has been in a hospital with COVID-19 for 12 days, Ardern said at a news conference.
Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation of 5 million to wipe out the disease. Its isolated location in the South Pacific gave it vital time to see how outbreaks spread in other countries, and Ardern acted decisively by imposing a strict lockdown early in the outbreak, including closing its borders.
Just over 1,500 people contracted the virus in New Zealand, including 22 who died.
