Covid 19 coronavirus - Kristin Macfarlane: The world needs to follow New Zealand's lead

A pop-up Covid-19 testing facility. Photo / File

COMMENT

Reaching 100 days without community transmission of Covid-19 is a milestone we can all be proud of.

As a country, we understood the severity this global pandemic could have had on our island nation if we didn't act swiftly.

Our response, as we all know, was intense. It was a tough experience and, although we all know what the actions of our lockdown earlier this year involved, none of us can have a true idea of how anyone else experienced it.

We've also relied on other types of measures to get rid of the virus including ongoing border controls, testing, contact tracing and quarantine.

But, while our actions - from the majority of us that is - are paying off we still can't be complacent in continuing our fight against Covid-19 to increase our 100 days without community spread even further.

It took 65 days for us to eliminate coronavirus - with the known case imported into New Zealand recorded on February 26 and the last case of community transmission detected on May 1.

But also during that time we saw more than 1500 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths from the virus, which shows that although we can stamp out risks in a short timeframe, a lot can also happen.

In New Zealand we're known for our "she'll be right" approach and, overall, it's not one we've taken with Covid-19 - and let's hope that continues.

We only need to look to Victoria to know how backward things could go, with a state of disaster announced for the state earlier this month, putting residents under a strict curfew.

We don't want to go back to tighter restrictions but if we want to be treated as trusted adults, we need those few who are breaking in and out of quarantine or simply ignoring risks and rules to do their part.

What we've achieved so far are some outstanding results that are being recognised through media around the world. Australia, the US, UK, Canada and India are just some of the countries that have highlighted our success.

But what we need is for the rest of the world to do more because I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd love to be able to see my parents and siblings again soon.