New Zealand launches inquiry into COVID response

New Zealand Prime Minister JacindaArdern said the country will launch a wide-ranging inquiry into whether it made the right decisions in battling the COVID-19 pandemic and how it can better prepare for future pandemics.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister said "Today, I can confirm that Cabinet has agreed to hold a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic response to better prepare New Zealand for future pandemics.

The scope of the inquiry is wide-ranging and it will cover specific aspects of our health response such as our border, community care, isolation, quarantine, as well as the economic response, and that does include broadly monetary policy.

It will not consider individual decisions such as how policies applied to an individual case or circumstance. It will also look into the effectiveness of our strategies including elimination, minimization and protection." She also said now was an appropriate time to examine the government's response with the highest level of independent inquiry.

That zero-tolerance strategy was initially hailed internationally as a success because New Zealand's death rate remained much lower than in most other countries and people were able to continue life much as normal.