How New Zealand beat the Coronavirus

While countries are fighting a war with the Coronavirus by enforcing strict lockdown measures to flatten the curve, New Zealand is on the verge of eradicating the virus, preparing itself to enter the post-pandemic future.

Life is almost back to normal in the island nation of 5 million following a strict and successful lockdown. New Zealand has recorded 1154 cases with 1131 recoveries and 22 deaths. The country has discharged its last coronavirus patient from the hospital and has had no new cases reported since last 2 weeks.

New Zealand has effectively eliminated the virus due to its prompt action at an early stage enforcing one of the world’s strictest lockdown. When the number of cases reached 102 on 23^rd March, Jacinda Arden, the Prime Minister announced that the country was going into level-3 lockdown, closing its borders, schools and non-essential businesses.

Along with strict and early lockdown measures, New Zealand has created a robust health response. It has conducted 267,435 tests so far and worked hard to ramp up testing and the country has a capacity to process 8000 test per day, marking it as one of the highest testing per capita in the world.

The government is looking after the nations’ most vulnerable by making sure the homeless have housing facilities with other necessities.

New Zealand has been successful in tackling the virus due to its strict restrictions, law-abiding citizens and an excellent communication between the government and the public, thus rebranding itself as a safe haven in the pandemic world.

The PM Jacinda Ardern has been showered with praises from all over the world for her ‘master class’ leadership during the crisis. She tackled the virus with science and empathy. Her message throughout the pandemic was – ‘Be Kind’ to promote community spirit, to look after one another. 

She has been a very good communicator and has the public trust. Citizens had no problem following the lockdown rules, with the data showing remarkable behaviour change with over 90 percent drop in activity levels, instantly, resulting in the flattening of the curve.

With no new cases for almost 2 weeks, the government took its first steps in rebuilding the economy, by easing the restrictions on the public. Businesses like constructions and restaurants were reopened, allowing large gathering of up to 100 people, as long as safety protocols such as social distancing were followed.

Although New Zealand managed to stop the transmission, it hasn’t been spared from the economic damages. The government has decided to take a 20 percent pay cut to show solidarity with those affected by the virus and floating the idea of a 4-day working week as a way to improve work-life balance, rebuilding its economy.

Even though the Kiwi nation has achieved an early success, the country is still effectively in lockdown, with most people told to stay home and stick to their 'bubbles' - a term given for the people they are isolating with.

The real life lesson other nations can learn from New Zealand is that, the combination of good science and leadership is an effective way of fighting the virus, bringing back normalcy sooner to our lives.