In this October 17, 2020, file photo, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is seen with her partner Clark Gayford following their victory speech to Labor Party members at an event in Auckland, New Zealand. (AP photo)
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has canceled her wedding as the nation imposes new restrictions to slow the community’s spread of the Omicron version of COVID-19, she told reporters on Sunday.
New Zealand will collect mask rules and limits from midnight on Sunday after a cluster of nine Covid-19 omicron cases showed community spread from north to south islands following the wedding.
A family plane returned to Nelson in the South Island after attending a wedding and other events in Auckland, North Island. The family and a flight attendant tested positive.
New Zealand will move to a red setting with more masks under its COVID-19 protection framework. Indoor hospitality settings such as bars and restaurants and events such as weddings will be limited to 100 people. Arden said the limit has been reduced to 25 people if venues are not using the vaccine pass.
“My marriage will not go ahead,” he told reporters. He said he felt sorry for anyone in such a scenario. Ardern did not reveal the date of their wedding, but was rumored to be imminent.
When asked by reporters how he felt about the cancellation of his marriage to longtime partner and fishing-show host Clark Gayford, Ardern replied: “Such is life.”
She said, “I am no different from, dare I say it, thousands of other New Zealanders who have felt the devastating effects of the pandemic, the most troubling of which is the inability to be with a loved one when they are seriously ill. Were sick with it. It would take away from any misery I had experienced.”
New Zealand’s borders are closed to foreigners since March 2020. The government pushed back plans for a phased reopening from mid-January to the end of February over concerns about a potential Omicron outbreak, as in neighboring Australia.
Those able to travel to New Zealand under narrow exceptions must apply to stay in state-managed quarantine facilities. The government stopped issuing any new slots last week amid an increase in the number of people visiting Omicron.
About 94% of New Zealand’s population over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated and about 56% have been given booster shots.