New Zealand’s Excellent Handling of COVID-19

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, today announced that the government would make a decision on 8 th June regarding moving from Alert Level 2 to Level 1. This is two weeks ahead of the previously announced date of 22 nd June. Only 22 people have died of the disease in New Zealand and there’s only one current case; so, unless there’s a spike, New Zealand will be back to normal very soon, apart from its closed borders.

Jacinda Arden stated today that “our strategy of going hard and early has paid off.” She began closing the country down on March 23rd when there were only 102 cases and no deaths. Ms Arden’s actions have earned her praise from global leaders, as well as many of the general public who are now wishing they lived in New Zealand.

Michael Baker, a professor at the University of Otago’s department of public health in Wellington has been advising the government on measures to take to eradicate COVID-19 from New Zealand. Full lockdown has allowed the country to use elimination. “The two biggest benefits of pursuing an elimination strategy is that you have a few cases and a few deaths, and you can get business back up and running. The alternative was that we were stuck with the virus and stuck between mitigation and suppression. Suppression is pretty grim,” said Mr. Baker.

New Zealand is now gingerly opening its economy and talking to the Australian government about creating Trans-Tasman travel bubble between NZ and Australia in the near future, enabling Aussies and Kiwis to travel and enjoy each other’s countries. This will be the first step in opening the borders to international travel.

New Zealand is now at Alert Level 2, allowing people to congregate in groups of 100 while still maintaining social distancing and allowing them to travel domestically. Restaurants, museums, cinemas, beaches, some schools, shops, and businesses are open. Businesses are determined to minimise the damage caused by two months of lockdown.

It’s going to be a tough year for Kiwis but, due to the quick, hard measures introduced by Ms Arden, New Zealand is in a much better position that the vast majority of countries around the globe; perhaps in the best position of all.

To find out more about emigrating to New Zealand click here: https://immigrationmigration.com/

Bernard Collins
Immigration Migration Limited.