Published 01:44 IST, August 22nd 2020
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern defends her govt's COVID-19 response amid Trump's attack
New Zealand Prime Minister, in response to Trump’s constant attack, has stated that she is ‘very proud’ to the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, in response to US President Donald Trump’s constant attack, has stated that she is ‘very proud’ of the way the authorities and people have tackled COVID-19 in the country.
During a televised conference broadcasted on Radio New Zealand, a proud Jacinda Arden also cited how the World Health Organisation (WHO) had applauded New Zealand's COVID-19 response and stated that the country has one of the highest ratings worldwide.
Arden defends New Zealand
Earlier US President Donald Trump, in a statement, claimed that America was doing an ‘incredible’ job at combating COVID-19 and had then cited New Zealand recent ‘massive breakout’ to justify his administrations handling of the pandemic.
In response to Trump's criticism, Jacinda Arden retorted stating that while New Zealand is dealing with 11 new positive virus cases from the recent outbreak, the United States has been dealing with tens and thousands of new COVID-19 cases.
In the press conference, Jacinda Arden stated that irrespective on how many new cases a country suffers with, what matters is how they choose to react to those cases. While Arden did not mention Trump by name, she did directly compare virus statistics with the US wherein she pointed out that New Zealand has ‘269 cases per million people’ while the US has 16,563 cases per million people.
She also added that throughout the pandemic, New Zealand has maintained a very low death rate and also has one of the lowest death rates in the world. As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, New Zealand has suffered from 0.45 deaths per 100,000 people while the death rate in the US stands at a whopping 53.04 per 100,000 people. New Zealand has currently reported 1,665 positive virus cases and only 22 deaths.
This back-and-forth between New Zealand and the United States regarding COVID-19 began on August 18 when Trump during a rally in Minnesota said that there was a ‘big surge’ in COVID-19 cases in New Zealand and then he blamed China once again for letting the virus spread to Europe and the rest of the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic which saw its first outbreak in a wet market in Wuhan, China last year has now spread all across the world. The virus, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation, has infected over 23 million people worldwide with the global death toll reaching over 800,000.
As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, the United States has reported a total of at least 5.7 million positive virus cases and has a death toll of 176,950. The US currently has the highest number of reported cases in the world, making it the epicentre of the deadly virus.
01:44 IST, August 22nd 2020