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.
Whanganui Year in Review, April 2020: A month locked down
30 Dec, 2020 03:30 PM
5 minutes to read
Police had checkpoints around the region to prevent people travelling over the Easter Break. Photo / Alan Gibson
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Ethan Griffiths
April 1
April 1 might have marked the beginning of a new month, but for Kiwis, it was just another day attempting to come to terms with life s new reality.
New Zealand was in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown for most of the month of April, and with that came a dramatic rise in the use of internet across New Zealand.
On April 1 the Chronicle reported that the use of fibre internet in Whanganui shot up a whopping 75 per cent in less than a week, with most of the city locked up inside playing video games, watching Netflix, or working from home.