New Zealand: COVID-19 Cases Hit Record High, Officials Urge Faster Inoculation

94 new cases were recorded on Tuesday, five more than the 89 that were recorded twice around 18 month ago.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. 

(Photo: Twitter)

On Tuesday, 19 October, New Zealand recorded its highest number of daily cases since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, AP reported.

Most of the fresh cases were seen in Auckland, New Zealand's most populated city.

Health officials said that a faster vaccination rate was the only way to fight the infection as Auckland's lockdown was extended by two more weeks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern emphasised the importance of the lockdown, telling her country's residents that "any interim easing of restrictions... will not work towards our plan of minimising cases while we increase vaccinations", as quoted by Reuters.

Ardern blamed those who were breaking lockdown rules for contributing to the resurgence of the virus in the country, noting that the most of the recent cases were seen amongst the younger people.

Ninety-four new cases were recorded on Tuesday, five more than the 89 that were recorded twice around one-and-a-half years ago.

The prime minister assured her people that together they could fight their way out of the lockdown.

"I just wanted to reinforce again that we’re not powerless. We do have the ability to keep cases as low as we can", AP reported.

(With inputs from Associated Press and Reuters.)