Scott Inglis: We can all be proud we crushed coronavirus Covid-19

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced a move to level 1.

COMMENT

I couldn't be prouder to be a New Zealander right now.

Today, as we begin our lives at alert level 1, I cannot think of any country I would rather be living in.

As coronavirus turmoil swirls around us in other countries, such as the United States and Brazil, New Zealand has stared down the pandemic.

We crushed it.

We are today the envy of the rest of the world. We have no known active cases of Covid-19 after the last one was declared resolved yesterday.

After going hard and early, we are now in the enviable position of being able to rebuild our economy and lives from a stronger position.

New Zealand, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, had a plan.

We had unity. We had good communication and strong messaging, and most of us did what was asked.

We hunkered down in lockdown. We washed and sanitised. We kept our distance. We stayed home. We worked from home.

We sacrificed plenty - time with extended family and friends, and, in some cases, even immediate family.

Many people have suffered financially and with their health. This horrendous toll will be felt for a long time to come.

There were a total of 1504 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases. Sadly, it took 22 lives here.

Covid-19 has extracted a steep and painful price, that's for sure.

But in my view, it was always going to.

The alternative would have been living with it for longer. I believe if that had been the case we would still have suffered financially as fear gripped the country for longer.

Overall, the toll would have been greater and more lives lost. The burden on our health system would have been heavy.

But our amazing nation of five million pulled it off.

We still face some huge challenges in saving our economy and there is a little part of me that wonders if this virus is still lurking somewhere within our borders. I hope not.

I think if we continue to stay united, practise good hygiene and think creatively we can work our way through what is to come and make ourselves and our country even stronger.

New Zealanders need to spend money if they can and Go Local! by supporting local businesses. We need to travel domestically to support tourism and a safe transtasman bubble will be crucial once Australia has eliminated the virus.

Ultimately, we want New Zealand to be the Covid-19-free place people from other countries want to come to when we reopen our borders.

So, to everyone who did their bit to make this work - including essential workers who kept our country ticking over in lockdown - I salute you.

On March 25, during a much darker time, we published a front page that said: Together, we can do this.

Well, we did.

We should all be proud.