Photo: Phil Walter/Getty
New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardernhas canceled her wedding plans due to an outbreak of theCOVID-19omicron variant and restrictions she announced to mitigate its spread.
“My wedding won’t be going ahead but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic,” Ardern, 41,said at a press briefingon Sunday. “To anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I’m so sorry.”
Arden told reporters during the briefing that nine cases of omicron have been confirmed in New Zealand. A family that traveled to Auckland a week ago for a wedding, a funeral, a visit to an amusement park and the city’s Sky Tower, a popular tourist attraction, tested positive when they returned home to the South Island, Motueka, Arden said. A flight attended also tested positive.
Derek Henderson/Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand via Getty
Because omicron is highly infectious, Arden said it is certainly now circulating in and around Auckland. She announced the country will move to its"red" setting for restrictions.
“We are all so resilient and I know we understand that we’re doing this for one another and I know that it will help us continue on,” Arden told reporters.
Asked how she feels about postponing her wedding plans, the prime minister said, “Such is life.”
Arden and Gayford, who hosts a travel docuseries in New Zealand calledFish of the Day,announced their engagementin 2019.
On his show, Gayford, 45, travels to different locations around the Pacific to catch fish and learn about species in the area. “The challenge is then to hunt out the very best local chef he can find and unlock a secret mouth-watering recipe for his Fish of the Day,” according to a description of the show.
Abook Gayford wroteof stories and recipes fromFish of the Dayrefers to him as New Zealand’s “First Man of Fishing.”
source: people.com
