March 19 2022
Ten more people have died and there are 18,514 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today.
The New Zealand embassy in Iran has received a hand-woven carpet on behalf of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to commemorate the way the country has handled the Covid-19 pandemic.
The carpet was gifted by Iranians Zohreh Solhdoust and Mahmoud Amanpour and it includes a hand-woven image of Ardern.
The pieceof tapestry was woven by Solhdoust and took about five months to complete.
It includes 24,000 knots, 400 rows, 149 colours - of which 15 are silk, and 134 are New Zealand merino wool.
The carpet also features a message to the New Zealand Government: "Congratulations for the best Covid-19 control all round the world".
On social media, while no one questioned the skill involved in creating the piece, opinions on the design were a bit more divided.
The hand-woven tapestry took five months to complete. Photo / Twitter
Golriz Ghahraman, Iranian-born Green Party MP, wrote: "Omg. It's extremely restrained of you to present this without comment. The people of Iran, usually known for our beautiful carpet making, thank you (and are gutted about this abomination)."
"The yahoo email address is such a power move," someone else commented.
The carpet is one of a number of gifts the Prime Minister has received in the past couple of years.
According to the 2021 Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests of Members of Parliament, the latest public register of gifts received by MPs, Ardern received a Christmas gift hamper from the Ambassador of Cuba, tickets to the New Zealand vs Australia Bledisloe Cup test, tickets to a New Zealand vs India cricket match and tickets to Elton John's concert.
