New Zealand's Ardern hits back at Trump over coronavirus 'surge'

[snoop1130]

New Zealand's Ardern hits back at Trump over coronavirus 'surge'

By Praveen Menon

 

FILE PHOTO: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a joint press conference held with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hit back on Tuesday against U.S. President Donald Trump for saying her country is experiencing a "big surge" in COVID-19, calling the remarks "patently wrong".

 

Trump sparked uproar in New Zealand when he told a crowd in Minnesota that the South Pacific country of 5 million people was in the grip of a "terrible" upsurge in COVID-19 cases, having earlier succeeded in eliminating the disease.

 

Thirteen new infections were confirmed in New Zealand on Tuesday, taking the country's total number of cases since the pandemic began to 1,293, with 22 deaths. This compares with the U.S. tally of more than 5.2 million cases and 170,000 deaths.

 

"You see what's going on in New Zealand?" Trump said.

 

"They beat it, they beat it, it was like front page they beat it ... because they wanted to show me something.

 

"The problem is ... big surge in New Zealand, you know it's terrible. We don't want that."

 

Ardern said there was no comparison between New Zealand's handful of new cases a day and the "tens of thousands" reported in the United States.

 

"I think anyone who's following COVID and its transmission globally will quite easily see that New Zealand's nine cases in a day does not compare to the United States' tens of thousands, and in fact does not compare to most countries in the world," she told reporters.

 

"Obviously it's patently wrong," she said of Trump's comments.

 

"We are still one of the best-performing countries in the world when it comes to COVID ... our workers are focused on keeping it that way."

 

New Zealand's death rate per 100,000 people, at about 0.44, is one of the lowest in the world thanks to strict lockdowns enforced early in the pandemic. The United States has a death rate of 5.21 per 100,000, one of the highest in the world.

 

MYSTERY OUTBREAK

 

New Zealand has fared far better than most countries during the pandemic, but an abrupt resurgence of COVID-19 last week in Auckland prompted the government to extend a lockdown for the city's 1.7 million residents until Aug. 26, while social distancing rules are in place in other towns and cities.

 

The origin of the latest outbreak is still unknown, but authorities earlier on Tuesday ruled out the possibility that it came from frozen food items or freight.

 

"Seems clear now that the possibility is being ruled out from that investigation," Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told reporters.

 

New Zealanders celebrated when the country passed 100 days without any community transmission earlier this month.

 

With an election due in mid-October, Ardern is keen to remind voters of her government's track record on fighting the virus.

 

"Every other single country in the world has experienced resurgence. We went longer than many, our outbreak is certainly not as significant as what we are seeing in Vietnam, in Hong Kong, in South Korea or in Australia," she told state broadcaster TVNZ.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-18

 

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[Pattaya Spotter]

Now you're definitely off The Donald's Christmas card list.

[Phuket Stan]

31 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Now you're definitely off The Donald's Christmas card list.

I would presume that the New Zealand Prime Minister will be over the moon not receiving a Xmas card from Dotard Donny....she will be able to apply the cleansing products needed to eradicate the odour emanating from aforesaid card to its proper use..... cleaning up rat excrement   

[stevenl]

His approach (which one) in the us failed, so he is trying to gain status by attempting to demean others who's approach was successful.

 

Pathetic.

[Pattaya Spotter]

15 minutes ago, Phuket Stan said:

I would presume that the New Zealand Prime Minister will be over the moon not receiving a Xmas card from Dotard Donny....she will be able to apply the cleansing products needed to eradicate the odour emanating from aforesaid card to its proper use..... cleaning up rat excrement   

What's sad is your need to take a light-hearted humorous post and turn it into something scatological. You need help.

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Obviously it's patently wrong," she said of Trump's comments.

Expect an incoming volley of bitching and insults off twitter shortly Miss Ardern for daring to suggest such a thing .. 

[Phuket Stan]

34 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

What's sad is your need to take a light-hearted humorous post and turn it into something scatological. You need help.

Oh Dear.....did I <deleted> the balloon

[ugghuggh]

Actually 170k over 330 M makes it 50 per 100k..not 5

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

"You see what's going on in New Zealand?" Trump said.

 

"They beat it, they beat it, it was like front page they beat it ... because they wanted to show me something.

 

Yeah, because it’s all about you trump, isn’t it. 
 

maga

[twocatsmac]

23 minutes ago, Phuket Stan said:

U have no mirrors in your house or are they of the magic kind

Neigh sir, I only wondered, why the long face? and wouldn’t want to be saddled with her.

[TKDfella]

You were wrong to say that Mr. President. You need to apologise to the NZ people. (not a political statement...'man to man')

[Berkshire]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"Obviously it's patently wrong," she said of Trump's comments.

Don't worry, Ms. PM, the world pretty much knows that D. Trump is a pathological liar.  And he's wrong pretty much all the time. 

[Katipo]

Trump is such a narcissistic imbecile. The things he says, and the way he says them, I am seriously beginning to wonder if he may also suffer from a form of mild retardation. ????

[bronzedude]

12 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Yes, trump takes a shot (and misses as usual) at the NZ PM and people are mean to him, the poor poor blob.

Hideous looking woman? What a classy lot you trump supporters are. Class and brains, an awesome combination!

I agree. Supporters of this pretend president are "low class" and his intellectual equals. The rest of us can't be bothered with fools. I guess now the fools will comment on this. Take your best shot. You're the ones who supported all the covid deaths and the destruction of the economy. Praise all the lies and silly rants. Be like your hero and run away like little babies.

[whaleboneman]

7 minutes ago, Katipo said:

Trump is such a narcissistic imbecile. The things he says, and the way he says them, I am seriously beginning to wonder if he may also suffer from a form of mild retardation. ????

I have to disagree with you. I don't think it's mild.

[rupert the bear]

being an ex aucklnad resident i dont understand how 4 cases justify locking down the whole city.its overkill to say the least,NZ is an isolated country its 2000 miles to NSW and the other side all the way to chile before u hit land,its easy to cut it off theres 2 airports,shut them and your done!its a pity we have gone to these extremes.we are going to have to learn to live with it vietnam ,here and several other places have gone into north korea mode but.....europes coming out of its slowly,we must work we must travel we must live and breath.govt wherever has shown itself contemptuous of its citizens .patently wrong at about every step and china the perp sits there untouched.the infections go higher the deaths drop,what does that tell us?WHO even says this and that most new infections are people who dont feel effected so.....its your infected and not effected its time to move on,mask up ship out and keep the frail in protection till the vaccine comes,the rest of us must live though.voltaire-those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities.this is absurd so......be careful what you allow govt to dictate to you

[charmonman]

18 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Now you're definitely off The Donald's Christmas card list.

The Christmas card might not arrive anyway because Donald has decided it would be a good idea to destroy the US Postal Service.

[rudi49jr]

As per usual, the Orange One has no clue what he’s talking about and makes it all about him. Let’s do a little simple math (although obviously still much too complicate for Trump) and see what the numbers say.
New Zealand, so far, has had about 1,300 people infected and 22 dead, whereas the USA has about 5,4 million people infected and 170,000 dead. But New Zealand has a population of just 4,9 million people, and the USA 328 million, which is 67 times as many as NZ. So if you multiply the NZ figures by 67, this is what you get: 87,100 infected and 1,474 dead. Can you see the staggering difference with the USA numbers?

[Jonnapat]

What a truly horrendous person. Glad to see someone with the courage to call out this monstrosity of a president. 

[Rimmer]

Troll post and replies removed

[ThaiFelix]

5 hours ago, Berkshire said:

Don't worry, Ms. PM, the world pretty much knows that D. Trump is a pathological liar.  And he's wrong pretty much all the time. 

pretty much?  I think you are being far too kind.

[Sweet Swede]

                                                                                                      He is not a man. He is not even a human being. Humans have feelings for other persons than themselves.

[Bundooman]

On 8/18/2020 at 6:28 PM, Pattaya Spotter said:

What's sad is your need to take a light-hearted humorous post and turn it into something scatological. You need help.

what is even sadder is your view of a light-hearted post. I don't think New Zealand has the same opinion.

If your clown gets back in - then it will be you that needs help.

[bendejo]

Back when DT  addressed the UN General Assembly and they laughed at him, Jacinda quite graciously defended him on US television.  Skip to 0:55 in the vid