New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern cancels her wedding amid new Omicron COVID-19 restrictions
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has
cancelled her wedding as the nation imposes new restrictions to slow the
community spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, she told reporters.
New Zealand will impose mask rules and limit gathering from
midnight on Sunday (Jan 23) after a cluster of nine cases of the COVID-19
Omicron variant showed community transmission from the North to South islands
after a wedding.
A family travelled by plane from the North Island capital of
Auckland to a wedding in the South Island attended by 100 people. The family
and a flight attendant tested positive.
New Zealand would move to a red setting under its COVID-19
protection framework, with more mask wearing, and a cap of 100 customers
indoors in hospitality settings and events such as weddings, or 25 people if
venues are not using vaccine passes, Arden said.
"My wedding will not be going ahead," she told
reporters, adding she was sorry for anyone caught up in a similar scenario.
Asked by reporters how she felt about her wedding
cancellation, Ardern replied: "Such is life."
She added, "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. That will far, far outstrip any
sadness I experience."
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