New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern delays wedding over COVID law

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had to postpone her wedding thanks to her own COVID-19 restrictions.

Ardern, 41, put her island nation of 5 million people under the “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response starting Monday, which limits the sizes of gatherings and tightens mask rules. 

“I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry,” she said, announcing her wedding next weekend would have to be delayed.

The new rules come after the country detected nine Omicron cases in a single family that flew to the nation’s biggest city, Auckland, for a wedding.

The Labour Party PM has drawn worldwide attention for her country’s strict and robust COVID-19 response. New Zealand has reported just 52 deaths from the virus since the start of the pandemic. More than 90 percent of the country is fully vaccinated and more than 50 percent is boosted.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s wedding was supposed to take place next weekend.Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP

New Zealand hasn’t seen an Omicron spike just yet, but Ardern has said she expects it to happen.

The PM was planning to wed her partner, Clarke Gayford, with whom she has a 2-year-old child.

Ardern has been prime minister since 2017 and was elected for a second-term in 2020 in a landslide victory. 

With Post wires