Wellington: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has become the latest world leader to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory, saying she offered to share her nation’s expertise on dealing with the coronavirus.
Ardern said the tone of the 20-minute phone call was warm and that Biden spoke very favourably about how New Zealand was handling the pandemic.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talks with US President-elect Joe Biden on phone at her office in Wellington.Credit:AP
“What has been really at the centre of our response has been some fundamentals around testing, contact tracing, isolation,” Ardern said. “That’s over and above what we’ve done at our borders.”
New Zealand has been largely successful in eliminating the virus after imposing a strict lockdown in March and closing its borders. Only 25 people in the nation of 5 million have died from COVID-19 and Ardern was last month re-elected Prime Minister after her centre-left Labour Party won in a landslide.
