The Health Minister of New Zealand, who also is an Associate Finance Minister, David Clark, has been demoted for breaking the country’s coronavirus lockdown principles by taking his family to the beach.
Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern demoted David Clark to “the bottom of our Cabinet rankings” and stripped him of his role as associate finance minister in response to the revelation, although she said that his services are still needed during the pandemic.
“Under normal conditions, I would sack the minister of health. What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses,” Ardern said. “But, right now, my priority is our collective fight against COVID-19. We cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our response.”
The remarks come after Clark admitted to the lockdown violations in a statement on Tuesday. He said he provided the prime minister with “a complete picture” of his outdoor activity during the lockdown.
He said that, on the first weekend of the lockdown, he drove his family about 12 miles away from his house to a beach.
“This trip was a clear breach of the lockdown principles of staying local and not driving long distances to reach recreation spots,” Clark said.
“At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices, I’ve let the team down. I’ve been an idiot, and I understand why people will be angry with me,” he said.
New Zealand has one of the most stringent national quarantine measures in the world. The lockdown was imposed less than two weeks ago and, instead of being done gradually with the goal of “flattening the curve,” went further and completely shut down the country. That included banning swimming at beaches and hunting. Cases have been on the decline since the strict measures were put into place.
New Zealand has so far recorded a total of one thousand three hundred and twelve (1,312) confirmed cases of the Corona virus Infection, with a total of four (4) deaths recorded and four hundred and twenty-two (422) recoveries.
By NK AB