Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime Minister, has confirmed that there are no active COVID-19 cases in the country.
After testing “almost 40 000 people in the past 17 days,” Ardern can safely say that the Land of the Long White Cloud is completely free of the coronavirus disease.
Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that New Zealand is free of coronavirus, moving down to Alert Level 1 and opening up their economy.
Jacinda Ardern has been praised for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic, offering full transparency and simple nation addresses. Her government has followed a progressively flexible plan that tackled the global issue early and effectively. She even took a 20% pay cut! And her hard work really has paid off this time…
“We have done what very few countries have been able to do. We have stopped a wave of devastation.”
With a population just shy of 5 million, NZ have had just over a thousand cases and only 22 deaths from COVID-19. The low mortality rate coupled with the high rate of patient recovery have put the Kiwis in a remarkable position. Only nine other countries in the world have no active cases.
In a nation address yesterday morning, Ardern explained how they have had no coronavirus patients admitted to hospital for 12 days. From midnight of last night (Monday, June 8), NZ will move down to Alert Level 1, enabling them to revitalise their economy and become “one of the most open economies in the world”.
“It’s been 40 days since the last case of community transmission… 22 days since that person finished their self-isolation.”
Jacinda Ardern confirmed that strict border measures and contact tracing will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Anyone entering the country will be tested twice for COVID-19 and will continue to have to self-isolate for two weeks.
Meanwhile, NZ will not rush the creation of a trans-Tasman ‘travel bubble’ with Australia, as they do not want to undo all their hard work. Australia still has over 400 confirmed COVID-19 cases, due in part to the government’s failure to enact tough restrictions from the outset.
“Going hard and going early gave us the very best chance of stamping out the virus, and it has,” Ardern said.
“We almost certainly will see cases here again and that is not a sign that we have failed, it is a reality of this virus. But if and when that occurs we have to make sure, and we are, that we are prepared.”
