The Telegraph has torn into Jacinda Ardern after she announced she had postponed her wedding due to the surge in Omicron cases.
Signalling that the ‘one-rule-for-us’ mentality that has plagued the UK’s response doesn’t exist in New Zealand, the prime minister said she was unwilling to party as the rest of the country observes new restrictions.
It is expected that the island nation will soon hit thousands of cases a day in the coming weeks, an unprecedented number for a country that has largely been able to keep Covid out.
As such, hospitality venues and indoor events are now capped at 100 (vaccinated) people, and mask mandates are in force in shops, on public transport and in schools.
People who come into close contact with a Covid-19 case will also have to isolate for 10 days, and a household contact is required to isolate for 24 days, even if they do not return a single positive test, in what The Telgraph’s Matthew Lesh termed a “failed Covid strategy”.
In his words, the “magic trick is over” and the “Zero Covid charade is falling apart”.
The country has a high vaccination rate – 93 per cent of people aged over 12 years – and yet the PM still insists on “martyring herself along with the rest of the country”.
But what he fails to note is that yesterday, in what is usually a slow reporting day, the UK registered more deaths – 54 – than New Zealand has throughout the entire pandemic – 52.
In the last week, there has been over 1,500 deaths in Britain attributed to the virus, which may seem like a snip compared to other, deadlier variants, yet it is by no means inconsiderable.
Since the pandemic first broke out the UK has seen over 150,000 poor souls perish due to our relatively laissez-faire approach to curtailing its spread.
If that’s what success looks like, give me Jacinda’s brand of failure any day of the week.
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