{"id":37858,"date":"2021-10-10T03:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T18:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/oct\/09\/jacinda-ardern-facing-biggest-challenge-yet-as-new-zealand-switches-to-covid-suppression"},"modified":"2021-10-10T03:00:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-09T18:00:40","slug":"jacinda-ardern-facing-biggest-challenge-yet-as-new-zealand-switches-to-covid-suppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=37858","title":{"rendered":"Jacinda Ardern facing biggest challenge yet as New Zealand switches to Covid suppression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The prime minister has enjoyed huge support during the pandemic \u2013 but the country\u2019s new course may force unpopular trade-offs<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>This week, New Zealand\u2019s locked down cities woke to a brave new world of lifted restrictions: state-sanctioned picnics in parks, the prospect of reopening schools, a chance to reunite with friends and family. Infusing the visions of grass-stained blankets and beach-side beers, however, is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/oct\/05\/anger-and-grief-new-zealanders-fearful-as-covid-elimination-strategy-ends\">strong dose of Covid anxiety<\/a>. Cases continue to circulate in the community, and the country\u2019s long-held commitment to elimination is being been cast off.<\/p>\n<p>As New Zealand steps into the unknown with its Covid approach, so does its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Having brought the country through the pandemic largely unscathed so far, she was richly rewarded with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/aug\/18\/arderns-covid-lockdown-finds-favour-as-new-zealand-watches-sydneys-delta-disaster\">political popularity and trust<\/a>. Now, the prime minister faces the difficult task of guiding it through a new era of Covid suppression \u2013 and it could be the most significant political challenge she has faced yet.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/oct\/09\/jacinda-ardern-facing-biggest-challenge-yet-as-new-zealand-switches-to-covid-suppression\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The prime minister has enjoyed huge support during the pandemic \u2013 but the country\u2019s new course may force unpopular trade-offsThis week, New Zealand\u2019s locked down cities woke to a brave new world of lifted restrictions: state-sanctioned picnics in parks&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,1066,268,56,933,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-coronavirus","category-jacinda-ardern","category-new-zealand","category-new-zealand-politics","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37862,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37858\/revisions\/37862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}