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© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.New Zealand could pull off bold goal of eliminating virus
By NICK PERRY WELLINGTON, New Zealand©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
36 Comments
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smithinjapan
“New Zealand got everything right," she said. "Decisive action, with strong leadership and very clear communications to everybody.”
Makes you embarrassed to have the leaders we have in other nations, especially those that are STILL doing next to nothing but trying to save the economy first and foremost.
PTownsend
A pop-up testing station? Hats off to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and all New Zealanders, the 'team of 5,000,000' who've worked together on this.
Knock wood you'll 'pull off your bold goal', setting yet another positive example for the rest of the world.
mountaingrill
Good on you Kiwis! Show the rest of the world how its done!!
carpslidy
.Tourism generates a direct annual contribution to GDP of $16.2 billion, or 5.8%, and a further indirect contribution of $11.2 billion, another 4% of New Zealand's total GDP.
Bjorn Tomention
Ask anyone who lost a loved one.
She put the alligator in the pool, then told every one no swimming because its dangerous.
The game and the gullible just keep on lapping up anything the media sells them on adern dont they, even while she is absulotely screwing everyone for her own political gain.
OssanAmerica
Congrats to New Zealand for their resolve and approach. But I trust we all realize that if NZ succeeds in containing COVID19 completely they must completely restrict travel from and to other countries in order to maintain it. In other words, they would have to isolate themselves from the rest of the world until the world can catch up.
tooheysnew
Better than Abe’s motto - ‘go soft, go late’
nonu6976
@Bjorn, yes we get it, you hate Ardern and everything she does is wrong, even when it's right.
Pukey2
If NZ can do that, then so can Taiwan. It has a much much higher population, packed into a much smaller area, is right next to mainland China, and has less than a third of the cases. So they've had to make 10 times the effort - without any help from WHO too.
Jimizo
@Bjorn Tomention
I’d imagine the majority of people in other countries would like to be in NZ’s position regarding coronavirus.
As pointed out, what to do about travel is an interesting question.
Doug Maduro
Hey NZ, let us know when you've actually accomplished what you are claiming, otherwise it's just wishful thinking.
Disillusioned
Hats off to NZ! They do have geography and a smaller population density on their side, but they still struck very strict rules and closed their borders just like their trans-Tasman neighbors, Australia. I don't know why they are talking about tourism though. It will be a long time before the borders will be open to international tourists. Perhaps Australians will be ok, but nobody from Asia, the US or Europe will be allowed into either country for quite some time yet. Possibly not until next year.
noriahojanen
The virus can hardly be eliminated unless herd immunity take hold (via vaccination programs or mild infection into recovery process among part of its population). The impact of spikes could still be mitigated by beefing up the local healthcare system. I'm not sure if NZ socioeconomic foundations can survive and prosper with all borders closed (technically as an island it can easily manage the flow from overseas).
InspectorGadget
What a lot of people fail to realise was that the Tourism industry was a gonner in NZ either way. Global air routes down to NZ shut down as citizens from other countries were either barred from travelling, scared off, or the airlines stopped servicing the routes. It didn't matter what NZ did, the Tourism sector was still going to close down due to a lack of international travellers.
The decision then boiled down to one of two things
1) Go hard go early. Save lives at the expense of huge economic cost.
or
2) Dither and try and keep the economy going at the expense of lives. Other countries learned the hard way that this simply isn't possible as the economic toll of thousands of lives lost and having to shutter the economy would have occurred anyway.
Luckily Ardern and government chose the first option, which means we are well positioned to recover. Ardern just announced that the Level 4 lockdown would be extended for another week to 5 weeks. Polls suggest that she had overwhelming support for the move.
New Zealand is well positioned to weather the storm. We carried very low levels of government debt into this situation, and our main economic earners are our primary industries (food exports).
PTownsend
Send more dairy products to Japan, please. Including hokey pokey ice cream.
ulysses
Jacinda Ardern is what a leader should be!
Go Kiwis..
spinningplates
Well done so far NZ, keep it up!
Meanwhile Japan looks on...'What is this witchcraft...meh...lets go to Shonan coast by train, I'm lonely.
WilliB
Are we living in different countries? From where I stand, Japan is doing pretty well. People generally have reasonably modified their behaviour, and we do not have the outrageous police state behaviour that I see reported from e.g. the UK and Spain.
Yeah, I could do without the theatrics of the Abenomasks and stimulation pork, but nobody is perfect.
Blacklabel
They are safe.
Even more so when the article where you are talking about them is actually about New Zealand, not America.
Blacklabel
As far as New Zealand. they had many things in their favor, especially a very small population, their isolated location and the decision to ban travel (which the WHO said was unnecessary- so good call there)
Once people start visiting again, they might not have such favorable conditions to operate in.
But as with any country and any people, I wish the best for their efforts.
mariasjapan
No one is an expert in this situation. Every nation is doing all the necessary measures and approach to contain the virus. NZ can probably prosper now but I hope there’s no rebound transmission coming!!!
BrainGuyJapan
As far as New Zealand. they had many things in their favor, especially a very small population, their isolated location and the decision to ban travel (which the WHO said was unnecessary- so good call there)
Once people start visiting again, they might not have such favorable conditions to operate in.
But as with any country and any people, I wish the best for their efforts.
Exactly!
New Zealand Population is around 4.8 millions compare to US 330 millions and Japan 126 millions. This is completely different level how each country to contain pandemic situation. I see comments here that people enjoy complaining almost as much as they enjoy doing nothing about it.
Tamarama
I absolutely applaud New Zealand - and Jacinda Adern has been a stellar leader through global crisis. They look to have pulled of a hard lockdown to eliminate the virus in short order.
Congratulations New Zealand - the world applauds you!
Serrano
“New Zealand got everything right,"
No, they didn't. 13 people have died. More than half the nation's workforce has suddenly become reliant on government handouts. “It's been devastating. No question at all,” said Stephen England-Hall, the chief executive of Tourism New Zealand.
But overall, I gotta give high marks to Jacinda Ardern's government. Could have been much worse.
One of the most symbolic casualties of the outbreak has been Air New Zealand. The airline had been a source of pride for many as it expanded internationally and won industry awards. In a series of frank updates, Chief Executive Greg Foran described how the carrier had reduced flights by 95% and would need to cut its workforce by at least 3,750.
If the lockdown continues much longer, there won't be any Air NZ to revive.
Akie
The virus "doesn't have superpowers,” ...
A true statement by a true doctor !
RichardPearce
While it is possible to TEMPORARILY eliminate an infectious disease from an area (and where I live in northern Alberta, we had a total of 4 known cases, all recovered, presently have zero known active cases, and three of the 4 districts around us either have had zero cases, or a few that have recovered and zero active cases) MAINTAINING such a status requires complete isolation, and that is economically damaging, too.
And while it does allow you to ease up on, or eliminate entirely, the contact limiting measures within the zone, everyone must be aware that a single breech of the perimeter will necessitate a return to, or the initialization of, the full lockdown of everyone who might have come in contact with the breech.
LunarTuner
Aotearoa needs a reset and a break from too many people cramming into the country and overloading the infrastructure through over tourism. Time to let locals back into their own tourist enclaves, let the country breathe, cleanse and let businesses adjust to new economic conditions, Im sure she’ll be all good...
Yrral
Lawsuits will not only flatten the curve, it will flatten a lots of business, that had spread the virus
Strangerland
One of the most important things that led to NZ swiftly and effectively containing the virus was a decisive leader, who didn't waffle to whichever special interest group she talked to most recently, as we've the leaders of other countries do, with disastrous results.
A half-assed indecisive response trying to satisfy all special interest groups will only lead to a poor response in which no one ends up satisfied, and many, many more deaths. As we've seen in other countries with leaders who have put forward a half-assed indecisive response.
Lizz
If the virus has mutated into over 30 strains as some studies is the one in NZ more similar to the aggressive form that hit Europe and subsequently NYC or the West Coast which has been much less affected ? Not saying governmental response is inconsequential but lockdowns or states of emergency or other background information does need to be understand within the context in which they are operating.
arrestpaul
Which indicates that they have a working plan, and experience. Every plan needs some tweeking, but it seems like New Zealand is on the right track.
ZENJI
I live in New Zealand. My lady is Japanese. We both lost our jobs. We are both fighting for compensation.
BUT, looking on the bright side. So-far we are safe & well. We go for walks 2-3 times a day in our area.
We do have strict rules set by our Prime Minister, exercise within our area is O K.
Next week we will drop 1 level on 4 LEVEL SCALE. We as a country are "ON THE UP" BUT OUR PROGRESS UPWARD is entirely UP TO US. If we break the rules the repair process starts all over again.
So we have a target, we have a plan.
Stay safe Japan.
JeffLee
What NZ "got right" was being an island country and being geographically the most remote country in the developed world.
Long before the virus, NZ was known for its "billionaire bunkers," set up by the ultra-wealthy globalists as havens to escape doomsday. Its perceived safety has very little to with politics and a lot to do with geography.
dtb
RichardPearce I live in that same Northern Alberta city you’re talking about. It’s probably the safest place in the province right now - as long as they keep some of the cases at the camps isolated, that is.
Akula
There is a lot of lauding of Jacinda Ardern from international media, but the reality is she has been a weak, incompetent and self-serving leader. The NZ economy was in rough shape leading up to COVID-19 due to mismanagement and anti-business policies. Ardern was unable to keep her NZ First coalition partners in line, and even the worst performing of ministers (Phil Twyford anyone?) seems to be able to keep their jobs..
Ardern has seen that NZ has gone much harder after the virus than it needed to, and the economic damage from that will be savage. I would venture to say that she is the worst Prime Minister New Zealand has had in my lifetime.