the times | Friday July 31 2020 2GM 13
News
A growing number of British citizens
looking for a safe haven to see out the
pandemic are choosing New Zealand.
Officials in Wellington say that British
interest in migrating to the country is
up by 40 per cent — and in the United
States interest is up by 160 per cent.
New Zealand went into strict lock-
down early in the pandemic. Businesses
shut and people were confined to their
homes from late March until late May,
eliminating community transmission
of Covid-19 among the nation’s five
million inhabitants.
There has not been any local trans-
mission for 90 days and a total of 22
people have died from the virus.
There has been a surge of visitors to
its immigration website, where foreign-
ers can seek guidance and begin appli-
cations. About 46,800 UK citizens
visited the site last month, up from
27,100 in the same period last year.
Similarly, there was a spike in Google
searches last month for “move to New
Zealand”, The New Zealand Herald
reported.
Last month 112,800 more Americans
visited Immigration New Zealand’s
website compared with the same time
last year. This was the equivalent of one
US user clicking on the site every 30
seconds. More than 250,000 Ameri-
cans have investigated whether they
qualify to move there since the pan-
demic took hold.
New Zealand, like Australia, operates
a points-based migration system that
ranks applicants. Professional qualifi-
cations, previous experience of work-
ing in the country and English lan-
guage skills all earn potential migrants
more points.
The immigration authorities then
provide residence invitations to those
who can offer the most to the country.Missed vaccines could
be deadlier than Covid
Jane Flanagan
corded since the 1970s. “We cannot
trade one health crisis for another,”
Henrietta Fore, executive director of
Unicef, said. “We must prevent a fur-
ther deterioration in vaccine coverage
and urgently resume vaccination pro-
grammes before children’s lives are
threatened by other diseases.”
At least 30 measles vaccination cam-
paigns have been or are at risk of being
cancelled as a result of the pandemic,
which could result in further outbreaks
this year and beyond. Progress on im-
munisation had already started to stall,
not only in poor countries with weak
health systems but also in middle-
income countries including Brazil and
Mexico. The likelihood that a child
born today will receive all the globally
recommended vaccines by the time
they are five is less than 20 per cent.
The number of measles cases record-
ed globally in November 2019 was the
highest since 2006, according to
Unicef. In the Democratic Republic of
Congo, nearly 1,000 children have died
of measles since an epidemic broke out
a year ago.
Health chiefs have pointed to Ethio-
pia as an example of how mass vaccina-
tion campaigns can be managed along
with a coronavirus caseload. Africa’s
second most populous nation has just
completed a ten-day programme in
which more than 14 million children
were immunised against measles.Tens of millions of children are going
without life-saving vaccines because
the coronavirus pandemic has disrupt-
ed immunisation programmes across
the world.
Health chiefs fear that the decline in
vaccinations being administered will
reverse decades of hard-won progress
in reducing deaths from preventable
diseases. The World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) has warned that suffering
and death among children caused by
the disruption “could be far greater
than Covid-19 itself”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
director-general of the WHO, said:
“Vaccines are one of the most powerful
tools in the history of public health but
the pandemic has put those gains at
risk.” The upheaval caused by the pan-
demic has left 80 million babies under
the age of one unprotected from dis-
eases such as polio, yellow fever and
measles, according to research by
Unicef, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and
the Sabin Vaccine Institute.
A lack of PPE, the deployment of
health workers to Covid response
duties and restrictions on movement
have all contributed to fewer vaccines
being administered.
Immunisation programmes for
children in rich and poor countries
alike have slipped back to levels not re-second city in Belgium to introduce
a curfew as the national infection
rate soared to 33 case per 100,
people, the seventh highest in
Europe. A curfew could be imposed
on the capital, Brussels, if infections
increase over the weekend. Belgium
daily coronavirus cases for the first
time, driven by a surge in infections
in rural areas at a time when the
government has been further easing
curbs on movement and commerce.
There were 52,123 new cases in the
previous 24 hours, taking the total
number of infections to almost
1.6 million. About 775 people died of
Covid-related conditions over the
same period, raising total deaths to
just under 35,000.united states
Jet Blue, a budget airline, has
become the first to introduce a
robot that cleans cabins with new
ultraviolet light technology. The
robots are being tested in cabins at
JFK airport in New York and Fort
Lauderdale airport in Florida.libya
Libya’s internationally recognised
government in Tripoli will impose a
full lockdown in areas of the
country it controls after a sharp rise
in coronavirus cases. The lockdown
will start on Friday, the first day of
the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.is expected to be added to the UK
quarantine list today.france
The French health authorities have
warned of a renewed rise in
coronavirus cases in the country’s
nursing homes. Public Health
France says that the number of
cases has risen by 24 per cent since
mid-July amid indications that the
virus is accelerating in France.
There were more than 1,300 new
cases registered on Tuesday, the
highest daily total since June.
Officials are expected to announce
restrictions in northern France
today to try to prevent the virus
reaching the area from Belgium.hong kong
The government has reversed a ban
on restaurants serving dine-in
customers after widespread public
anger. It said that the suspension of
dine-in meals had brought
“inconvenience and difficulties”.india
India reported more than 50,
Global cases 16,812,
Global deaths 662,
World update
Countries reporting
most deathsUS 4,323,160 148,640 449
Brazil 2,483,191 88,539 417
UK 302,301 45,999 678
Mexico 402,697 44,876 348
Italy 246,776 35,129 581Cases Deaths
Deaths/
1m popMost new cases
223
1
2
3
30
66
US
India
Brazil
UK
China
846
40,
59,
52,
Reported new casesSource: WHONews
Britons eye move to
‘safe’ New Zealand
Bernard Lagan Sydney Skills in construction, infrastructure
and health care are all sorely needed.
A New Zealand demographics expert
said that the jump in interest from US
citizens reflected a failure of the Amer-
ican political and public health system,
and disillusionment with the leadership
of President Trump.
Paul Spoonley, of Massey University,
said that the pattern was likely to accel-
erate as the situation deteriorated over-
seas. “Middle-class professional Amer-
ica is saying, ‘Well, where do we go for
our own safety and the safety of our
families?’ ” he said.
So far 4.5 million Americans have
been infected and 153,000 have died.
New Zealand has only 24 active
cases. They all contracted the disease
overseas and are in managed isolation.
The largest number of approved resi-
dence applications this year was issued
last month, with 7,085 invitations. The
figure is almost twice as many as at the
same time last year.
New residents will have to await the
reopening of the country’s borders,
however, which remain closed to all but
returning citizens.
Immigration New Zealand said that
the volume of visits to its website
started to surge in April. The timing co-
incided with international reports
about the success of its strict lockdown
measures.
The main increase in interest came
last month after the US was hit by a
resurgence in cases and the infection
curve began rising in 40 out of 50 states,
The New Zealand Herald reported.
“Push factors are the [US govern-
ment’s] inability to handle a public
health challenge like Covid-19, com-
bined with civil unrest,” Dr Spoonley
said. “New Zealand is seen as a calm,
well-ordered, environmentally attract-
ive country that has dealt with Covid-
incredibly well.”GEOFF ROBINSON/BAV MEDIA; ALAMY