WELLINGTON: New Zealanders celebrated Christmas on Saturday in the warmth of mid-summer with few restrictions, in one of the few countries in the world largely untouched by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The Delta variant penetrated New Zealand’s defences in August and its largest city, Auckland, was thrust into lockdown for 188 days. At its peak, the outbreak saw around 220 cases a day. Lately, the daily average has been around 50. Around 200 people pass through the base over the summer season - scientists, support staff and Defence Force personnel who provide communications and other services. Numbers are lower this year because of the pandemic and all staff travelling to the continent have had to isolate and undergo COVID-19 testing before departure.
Fiji has an ongoing outbreak and has had almost 700 deaths. About 92 per cent of the adult population is now fully vaccinated, 97.7 per cent have received at least one dose and many in the deeply religious nation will celebrate Christmas at traditional church services and family gatherings.In remote Macuata provice, residents of four villages received a special Christmas present: Electricity was connected to their villages for the first time.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: STForeignDesk - 🏆 4. / 71 Read more »
Source: TODAYonline - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »
Source: thenewpaper - 🏆 7. / 63 Read more »
Source: asiaonecom - 🏆 10. / 59 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »