Zizi Sparks: Why our tough Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions were worth it

Quiet streets in Mount Maunganui during lockdown. Photo / File

COMMENT

New Zealand has fought Covid-19 and we have won - for now.

We stayed home, we made sacrifices and it paid off.

In Australia they also stayed home, they also made sacrifices but we only need to look across the ditch for a wake-up call and shock example of what could have been had it gone wrong.

In New Zealand, our movements were more restricted than those in Australia and it drew some criticism.

In June Mike Hosking wrote Australia was showing us how to deal with crisis.

"Its lockdown was less severe, more business was conducted, construction didn't stop, nor did the takeaway coffee or the haircuts."

But who's showing who now?

The state of Victoria has entered a second lockdown. Residents can leave their homes only for food and essential goods or services, medical treatment, exercise and for work or study, if they can't do it from home.

Sounds familiar. They are similar restrictions to those we endured at alert levels 3 and 4. They were harsh restrictions but they worked.

In Victoria, the number of cases in the state is rising daily and reaching record highs. Last Friday there were 428 cases in one day.

As of Sunday afternoon, they had 5696 cases, 2877 of them active.

As New Zealand moved to alert level 1 the number of daily cases was regularly zero or one.

We now have no community transmission and can move freely around the country.

Yes, our economy has taken a hit but imagine if we, like Victoria, had to endure a second lockdown.

Some local businesses won't survive a second lockdown. Some barely survived the first. Some didn't.

The end of lockdown will have been a light at the end of the tunnel for many businesses. Gyms reopened and members returned, hospitality picked up, domestic tourists returned.

In New Zealand, the above is still happening. In Victoria, they are back at square one with closed gyms, cafes and borders.

If we needed any proof New Zealand's strict restrictions were worth it, we need only look across the ditch.