Ardern’s Covid lockdown finds favour as New Zealand watches Sydney’s Delta disaster

Asked what she would say to people who questioned the need for a level 4 lockdown, the prime minister responded with one word: Australia'

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To overseas eyes, going into national lockdown over a single case should have been a hard sell, even for an extraordinarily popular prime minister such as Jacinda Ardern.

But a disastrous outbreak of the Delta variant in Sydney has helped galvanise New Zealand's team of 5 million" - and across the country, the government's tough strategy on Covid-19 has enjoyed widespread popular support.