COVID-19 lockdowns in Arola

The COVID-19 lockdowns in Arola are a series of lockdowns and cordon sanitaire implemented in the Republic of Arola. There have been two occurences of lockdowns in Arola to date, the first taking place in April to July 2020 and the second is currently ongoing from February 2021.

The lockdowns are part of Stage 4 of the "Four Key Stages" introduced by the Arolan government to contain the pandemic. The lockdowns restrict movement and gatherings outside of home, limiting to only essential services.

The first lockdown did not require the wearing of a mask while masks are now compulsory whenever outside since the second lockdown. The first lockdown was initiated due to rising COVID-19 cases in the country in 2020. The second and current lockdown is currently used as a preventive measure from the, which is more highly infectious. The Arolan government and multi-ministry taskforce have been praised for their quick and fast decision-making at important periods of time.

Background
The first reported COVID-19 case in the country was reported in Kelvia on 22nd February 2020, who was an Arolan citizen. After 2 months of contact tracing, the Arolan Ministry of Health confirmed that it was an indirectly imported case from China, which was caused by an infected American tourist.

Four days later, there were over 109 reported cases in the country on that day, a first for Arola. Hence, on 29th February (Leap Day 2020), the Arolan Ministry of Health formed a multi-ministry taskforce, identical to the one used in Singapore. On March 1st, the Arolan Ministry of Health began to quarantine infected patients with symptoms, as well as changing the mask rule to apply to situations where social distancing cannot be practised. However, by the end of March, the average daily number of reported cases exceeded 1,000.

First lockdown (2020)
On 1st April 2020, the Arolan Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a nationwide lockdown from 5th April, with the lockdown expected to last indefinitely. On 4th April, the Arolan government began issuing cease-and-desist letters to all restaurant and KTV establishments, as well as closing down all of Arola's airports, but limited cargo operations were still permitted. Schools in Arola continued per normal, except that the remaining part of Q4 is shifted online and the bimonthly ungraded tests were cancelled.

On 13th April, the first decrease in daily cases were reported, with the number dropping from 1,763 to 1,287 in a day. The MOH also announced on the same day that if the number of daily cases reached below 500 by 29th May, the lockdown would resume normal.

On 22nd May, the MOH extended the lockdown indefinitely, after daily cases continued to remain above 500.

On 14th July, the Arolan government announced that from July 29th, the lockdown would be lifted and would shift to Stage 2. However, new measures were announced, including but not limited to:


 * Mandatory wearing of mask from 29th July
 * Every person to display their Winky card/passport/identity card at various locations (i.e. shopping malls, parades, internet cafes, markets, grocery stores, taverns, cinemas)
 * No going out of province or going overseas unless for essential travel

On 29th July, the first lockdown was officially lifted and Arola moved to Stage 2.

Second lockdown (2021-present)
Despite the number of daily cases reaching 0 by the end of 2020, the pandemic still continued due to a new variant detected in India in late 2020.

After reacting to the second wave of infections in India in February 2021, the multi-ministry taskforce and Arolan prime minister Liisa Makkonen jointly announced a second lockdown on 23rd February due to the novel variant. The country then shifted to Stage 3 effective immediately.

The second lockdown began on 26th February 2021, and is still ongoing as of October 2021 even though there are no COVID-19 cases in the country. To date, the second lockdown has been the longest that has ever taken place in Arola.