New Zealand’s Prime Minister Has Canceled Her Own Wedding Due To A Surge In Omicron Cases
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has canceled her own wedding as the country seeks to contain an outbreak in Omicron cases.
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has canceled her own wedding as the country seeks to contain an outbreak in Omicron cases.
Her announcement during the regular COVID-19 press conference on Sunday Jan. 23, when the government moved the country to the highest level of COVID restrictions in response to a cluster of Omicron cases.
A family who had attended a wedding in Auckland, in New Zealand’s North Island, tested positive after they flew back home to the South Island. A flight attendant also tested positive.
The group had also attended a funeral and visited an amusement park and Auckland’s Sky Tower from Jan. 15 to 16.
Under the new COVID restrictions, events will be limited to a maximum of 100 vaccinated people or 25 if vaccination passports aren’t required. People will also be required to wear masks in shops and on public transport.
“My wedding won’t be going ahead but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic,” Ardern said.
She and her partner Clarke Gayford, who have a daughter, Neve, had been planning on getting married this summer.
When asked how she was feeling about canceling her wedding, Ardern responded with, “Such is life.”
“I am no different to, dare I say it, thousands of other New Zealanders who have had much more devastating impacts felt by the pandemic, the most gutting of which is the inability to be with a loved one sometimes when they are gravely ill,” she said. “That will far, far outstrip any sadness I experience.”
New Zealand has reported 15,175 COVID-19 cases and 52 deaths.
