Cases per 100,000
Source: Ministry of Health
The death toll would have been much higher if the early and significant action New Zealand opted for had not been taken.
New Zealand was literally a week away from not being able to contain coronavirus when the decision was made to plunge into a nationwide lockdown, Royal NZ College of General Practitioners medical director Dr Bryan Betty said in June.
At the time, Betty said New Zealand was staring down the barrel of a potential health system meltdown similar to those seen in Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.
With the spectre seen in parts of Europe and Asia looming large, the healthcare system braced for the worst.
After enduring a near-seven week lockdown, New Zealand eventually settled into a comfortable lull.
Against the odds, as winter closed in the country was Covid-19 free for the first time since February 28.
New Zealand had more than 100 days of freedom at alert level 1. Then new community cases were confirmed, seemingly out of nowhere. Hagen Hopkins/Getty
On August 9, a Sunday just shy of six months since the first case was confirmed, New Zealand marked 100 days without community transmission of the virus – joining a handful of countries, many much smaller and more remote than New Zealand, to achieve such a feat.
When the World stopped turning
Lockdowns across the Planet
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Phil Walter/Getty Images
New York City fell quiet.
Rome’s Spanish Steps were empty.
Most of the world - including
New Zealand - went into lockdown.
The only way to stop the virus spreading was to eliminate opportunities for it to pass between people. That meant perspex screens at shopping counters, social distancing on buses and trains and, at its most extreme, orders for people to stay at home.
China was the first to move.
By the end of January, before restrictive measures were introduced around the world, the country closed all its schools and non-essential workplaces, cancelled public events, placed restrictions on gatherings, halted public transport, and restricted regional travel. Mass masking was also required.
How science went to war with Covid-19
It took over a month for the mysterious virus and its disease to be given a name. SARS-CoV-2 refers to the virus, Covid-19 the disease.
The names couldn’t refer to a geographical location, an animal or an individual or group of people, the World Health Organisation (WHO) ordered. It needed to be easy to pronounce and relate to the disease.
“I’ll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine – COVID-19,” WHO director-general Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in February.
It is commonly referred to via its disease name - Covid-19.
“I think SARS-CoV-2 probably doesn’t roll off the tongue quite so well,” University of Auckland microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles says.
Before we knew it was a pandemic
On a Tuesday morning, just over a year ago, shrimp vendor Wei Guixian went to work.
She felt tired, but persevered and went about her day selling live seafood at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market.
She dismissed her lethargy and put it down to the seasonal flu that she catches every year. But for peace of mind, Wei walked to the local health clinic for an assessment and an injection.
The next day, her condition deteriorated. She made another trip to another hospital to get a second opinion. She left with a prescription and no helpful answers.