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COVID-19: New Zealand vaccinates 2.5% population in one day

WION Web Team
Auckland, New ZealandUpdated: Oct 16, 2021, 06:43 PM IST
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Coronavirus vaccine programme starts in New Zealand Photograph:(Reuters)

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The country which had once managed to completely finish coronavirus from their land was hit by a recent Covid crisis due to the Delta variant

A few weeks after the coronavirus surge in New Zealand, the country has managed to vaccinate 2.5 per cent of its population within a single day.

This was a record number of coronavirus vaccines administered to locals in the country. "We set a target for ourselves, Aotearoa, you've done it, but let's keep going," Ardern said, using a Maori name for New Zealand at a vaccination site, according to the Newshub news service. "Let's go for 150 [thousand]. Let's go big or go home."

The jump in vaccination drive came at a time when the country is struggling to recover from a recent surge of coronavirus cases.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been urging locals to get fully vaccinated against coronavirus pandemic as soon as possible.

The country which had once managed to completely finish coronavirus from their land was hit by a recent Covid crisis due to the Delta variant. New Zealand had managed to stay almost Covid-free for majority of the months when other countries were struggling with the pandemic.

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However, the Delta variant caused chaos as the infection spread from community to community. The government, led by Jacinda Ardern, is now aiming to fight the virus by increasing the number of fully vaccinated people.

Till now, 62 per cent of the eligible population in New Zealand has been fully vaccinated and 83 per cent have received their first shot.

On Saturday, 41 new cases were reported, of which 40 were from Auckland.

The government is planning to ease Covid-related regulations once 90 per cent of the total population of the country has been vaccinated.