‘Clearly not working’: How New Zealand’s consensus on striving for Covid zero is finally cracking

As Auckland grapples with Delta outbreak, opposition leaders dare to break with Jacinda Ardern on pandemic plan

Things have changed," Judith Collins declares, sitting in her Beehive government office. New Zealand's National party leader is fresh off launching her alternative pandemic response plan, marking the first time the main opposition has significantly diverged from prime minister Jacinda Ardern's largely popular elimination strategy.

The arrival of the Delta variant in New Zealand two months ago, causing an outbreak that the government is struggling to stamp out, has shown that elimination is clearly not working," Collins says.