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Scott Morrison Slams Jacinda Ardern’s 'Absurd' Covid-19 Zero Goal

Scott Morrison Slams Jacinda Ardern’s 'Absurd' Covid-19 Zero Goal

The NZ Prime Minister is hoping to get back to zero cases, but her Aussie counterpart thinks that's ridiculous.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Scott Morrison has fired shots across the Tasman Sea as New Zealand continues to grapple with a growing coronavirus outbreak.

What started as four cases in a cluster last week has resulted in more than 68 new infections today (August 26).

The Delta strain has been confirmed in several of the cases and the whole country has gone into Stage 4 lockdown as a result.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is hoping to bring her country back down to zero new cases each day as it has done with other outbreaks.

However, her Aussie counterpart reckons that's 'absurd'.

PA

"Any state and territory that thinks that somehow they can protect themselves from Covid with the Delta strain forever, that's just absurd," he said.

"New Zealand can't do that. They were following an elimination strategy. They're in lockdown. The way through is to get to those 70 percent and 80 percent marks [for vaccination] and open safely."

He said New Zealand will have to focus on vaccinating their population faster now that Delta has arrived.

Mr Morrison also made a dig at Ms Ardern's decision to shut the entire country down and impose harsh restrictions for everyone instead of isolating the outbreak region.

"We don't shut the country down because of the flu, we don't do that. We don't do it for other infectious diseases," he said.

PA

"You can manage this with some baseline element, common-sense measures so you can treat it like the flu and that's where we want to get - that's what living with Covid-19 is."

The NZ Prime Minister said the only way she will stop plunging her country into lockdown is when the vaccination rate increases.

"Our collective goal is to move away from having to use these measures in that way and vaccines help us do that. No one wants to use lockdowns forever and I can tell you now that is not our intention," she said.

"But, for now, while we vaccinate, elimination is the goal."

New Zealand was praised last year for its fast reaction to locking down the country and it was able to open up much faster as a result.

However, Jacinda Ardern admitted it's different this time round, adding: "Lockdown is having an impact ... but Delta is very, very tricky," she said.

The country's nationwide lockdown will be reviewed tomorrow (August 27).

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia