14 new coronavirus infections have been reported in New Zealand. It’s largest city, Auckland, had gone into a three-day lock down as of yesterday.

Earlier this week four new infections had been detected, all from one family. The find was shocking as New Zealand has enjoyed no local coronavirus transmissions for more than three months now.

The BBC reports that of the new cases, 13 have been linked back to the family. Just one had been an arrival from abroad, who was in quarantine. All the confirmed cases, and some of their contacts, will now be quarantined. The country is racing to find the source of this latest cluster of cases, testing family and work contacts of the newly infected. The 13 new infections traced back to the family include employees of an Auckland storage facility where one of the four infected relatives worked, relatives of these employees, a pupil at a local school, an employee of a loan company with links to the family, and one of the employee’s relatives. The BBC reports that testing is also being ramped up at a spa town the family had visited last weekend.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she expects the outbreak to grow further before it slows. She is expected to announce the next steps regarding Auckland’s lockdown on Friday, with the possibility existing of her extending it further.

Other countries where Covid-19 lockdowns had been lifted following a decrease in new cases have also seen a resurgence of the virus. According to the BBC, Vietnam saw 99 days free of any community transmission before a surge of new infections were reported in the city of Da Nang late last month.

Umm Muhammed Umar