New Zealand has stood out from the start of the pandemic, and has chosen a different strategy for dealing with the infection than most other countries.
Now the inhabitants live almost normally, and must follow the lowest of three levels of action.
Residents are encouraged to wear face masks, keep their distance and to “be ready if the infection reappears in society”, writes the government on their pages.
Shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues are kept open. People go to work and can attend sporting events.
At the end of March, the large art and music festival CubaDupa was held with over 120,000 participants.
– The streets vibrated with colors and music. Everyone just smiled from ear to ear, danced and partyed in the streets, said festival director Gerry Paul to the music website Metal Injection.
– SPORTS: The stands in Australia are full again and fans can cheer on their favorite teams. Here from Melbourne at the end of March. Photo: Daniel Pockett / Reuters
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Measures over time
New Zealand has chosen an elimination strategy. Then the infection is brought to zero within five weeks through strict closure, travel restrictions, massive testing and bandage use. Thereafter, travel restrictions will prevent new imports and keep the incidence at zero.
Although New Zealand has occasionally had the strictest measures in the world, they have also had far fewer days under lockdown than others.
Our World in Data has compared how long different countries have lived with intervention measures. New Zealand ends up very low with 22 out of 100, which is the most intrusive. In comparison, Norway ends up at 70.
In an article on The Guardian health professor Michael Baker at the University of Otago and Martin McKee, a health professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, listed 16 reasons why the zero-infection strategy is beneficial.
Among other things, they claim that it requires fewer human lives, and has a lower socio-economic cost, both for individuals and for business.
– All countries should try an elimination strategy, the professors believe.
HUSBANDS: Family members can be reunited with hugs at the airport in Brisbane, Australia after the country lifted most of the restrictions in the country in December. Photo: Dave Hunt / Reuters
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Open
Another country that has chosen this industry is Australia.
There have been only two major waves of infection in the country during the pandemic. The first in March last year and the second in the summer with a peak in August.
– Australia has been very successful in fighting the infection. The number of newly confirmed cases of infection every day is very low, he writes the government on their pages.
All but one state worked through a reopening plan this fall. Now the inhabitants of Western Australia, where it took longer to gain control, can live almost as normal.
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs are open with 75 percent capacity. Events and festivals are allowed, as long as each person has two square meters to move around so that you can keep your distance. The grandstands at sporting events are again full of supporters.
As both Australia and New Zealand have such a low level of infection, citizens can travel quarantine-free between the countries from 14 April, reports BBC.
FOLK PARTY: The LGBT parade Mardi Grad is celebrated in Sydney in early March. Photo: David Gray / AFP
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– The next pandemic
At a press conference on the corona situation on Tuesday, Health Director Bjørn Guldvog was asked whether it could also be relevant for Norway to choose a zero-infection strategy towards the summer so that we can open faster.
– As we have run the handling, we have chosen a different device for it. We have not considered it realistic with a line change on it now, Guldvog said.
He points out that the rules introduced in the countries that follow this strategy are much stricter tightening than the one we had after March 12 last year. In addition, he believes that many of the countries that have closed down sharply have often seen a flare-up afterwards.
– When we plan for the next pandemic, we will look at the possibility of a zero strategy that has been used in other countries, Guldvog said.
Three strategies
Early in the pandemic, the authorities were in principle faced with three main alternatives in dealing with the pandemic.
One possibility was a brake strategy, where the spread of the pandemic is curbed so that the health service is not overloaded, but where the infection is still allowed to pass through the population. Most countries that have chosen this strategy have had to introduce stricter measures anyway.
Another possibility was a strike-down strategy, which Norway has chosen, where the goal is to put down the pandemic and then keep it down to a low level.
The third option was an elimination strategy, where the goal is to remove the infection through very strict infection control measures.
The Holden Committee believes that the latter has the advantage that domestic infection control measures can largely be phased out if the strategy succeeds. However, it will require very strict measures for a longer period to remove the infection.
– In a country like Norway, with significant international travel and trade activities, a goal of an infection level almost equal to zero will entail significant costs, the committee wrote in a new report.
OPEN: After the wave of infections in late summer, people could once again go to bars and restaurants in October. Here from Nick & Nora’s bar in Melbourne Photo: William West / AFP
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Requires very low level of infection
In a new report prepared by the Norwegian Directorate of Health and FHI, they believe that the election in Norway in the future is an attempt at elimination and a continuation of the current strategy which aims to keep the epidemic under control at a fairly low level, which does not overload the health service.
Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrup Nakstad also believes that it is not relevant to go for an elimination strategy now.
– Eliminating the virus completely from a country will, however, require a very low level of infection in the first place with subsequent permanent closure of all borders. At the same time, one must probably have very strict quarantine measures for the few people who are exceptionally allowed into the country, as is practiced in New Zealand, among other places, he says.
Nakstad says that it has proved possible to keep infection rates close to zero in countries in South-East Asia that manage without foreign labor and where the inhabitants have little family or work in various countries that require travel activity.
– This is not the case in Norway. Nevertheless, the mandatory testing, registration and quarantine upon entry contribute to very few cases of infection now being traced out of the country, says Nakstad.
Other countries that have practiced the elimination strategy are China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Singapore. The countries are different when it comes to geography, population, resources and government.
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