New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said her government will reintroduce tough Covid-19 restrictions — forcing her to cancel her own wedding plans — as Asia-Pacific countries battle to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
The measures, which include stricter mask wearing and social-distancing rules, follow an outbreak of nine cases among a family that travelled between Auckland and the South Island to attend a wedding. New Zealand has been closed to foreign non-residents since March 2020.
The restrictions in New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific countries stand in contrast to the UK, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose premiership is under threat from a Covid-19 party scandal, said last week that “Plan B” pandemic measures, such as wearing masks on public transport, would be phased out.