Antarctica is the only continent that has not reported any cases of the virus. In an effort to keep it that way, Antarctica New Zealand, the government agency responsible for carrying out New Zealand’s activities on the continent, will cut back on research trips.
The institute will support only “long-term science monitoring, essential operational activity and planned maintenance this season in Antarctica,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. The reduction will minimize the number of visitors to the continent.
Antarctica is not a country and is governed by the Antarctic Treaty system, which came into force in 1961. New Zealand is among the countries that operates a base there.
Antarctica New Zealand and other government agencies, the statement said, are preparing a “managed isolation plan” for the continent, which is largely isolated anyway, to make sure it remains free of the virus.
“We acknowledge the impact this Covid-19 response will have on research this season, but these are unprecedented times,” Simon Trotter, the general manager of Antarctic operations for the institute, said on Tuesday.
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Reporting was contributed by Ian Austen, Ken Belson, Ronen Bergman, Aurelien Breeden, Choe Sang-Hun, Emily Cochrane, Michael Cooper, Maria Cramer, Abdi Latif Dahir, Reid J. Epstein, Jack Ewing, Richard Fausset, Sheri Fink, Jerry Garrett, Denise Grady, Anemona Hartocollis, Mike Ives, Lara Jakes, David D. Kirkpatrick, Aaron Krolik, John Leland, Antonio de Luca, Iliana Magra, Apoorva Mandavilli, Alex Marshall, Patricia Mazzei, Jesse McKinley, Raphael Minder, Paul Mozur, Norimitsu Onishi, Aimee Ortiz, Richard C. Paddock, Bill Pennington, Elisabetta Povoledo, Suhasini Raj, Scott Reyburn, Jaspal Riyait, Rick Rojas, Kai Schultz, Jeanna Smialek, Kaly Soto, Matt Stevens, Alexandra Stevenson, Nikita Stewart, Katie Thomas, Anton Troianovski, Julie Turkewitz, David Waldstein, Karen Weise, Edward Wong, Jin Wu, Sameer Yasir, Ceylan Yeginsu, Raymond Zhong and Karen Zraick.