New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is offering to share her country’s knowledge and data on combatting the coronavirus pandemic with President-elect Joe Biden.
Speaking with Biden on the phone Monday morning, Ardern offered her congratulations to him for winning the presidential election, as well as offering help regarding the pandemic, according to ABC News.
Ardern said, “While New Zealand has a number of natural advantages that have assisted us in managing the virus, I do absolutely believe that international cooperation continues to be key to getting the virus under control. We are happy to work with any country to share our knowledge and data if it’s helpful.”
She also said, “What has been really at the center of our response has been some fundamentals around testing, contact tracing, isolation. That’s over and above what we’ve done at our borders.”
The New Zealand leader told reporters after the call, “I offered to him and his team access to New Zealand health officials in order to share their experience on things we’ve learnt on our Covid-19 journey,” according to Reuters.
New Zealand has just over 50 active COVID-19 cases reported since the first case was reported in the country, according to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health website. There are more than 1,953 reported recoveries from the virus and 25 deaths due to the virus. There are roughly 5 million people in New Zealand. The country closed its border and implemented a strict lockdown in March.
Ardern previously butt heads with President Donald Trump over COVID-19.
The president previously suggested New Zealand was having a “big surge,” to which Ardern responded, “I think anyone who’s following COVID and its transmission globally will quite easily see that New Zealand’s nine cases in a day does not compare to the United States’ tens of thousands, and in fact does not compare to most countries in the world.” She then called Trump’s remarks “patently wrong.”
The U.S. has reported more than 12.3 million COVID-19 cases, with 171,462 cases per day on average over the past week compared to the two weeks prior, according to The New York Times. The U.S. has significantly more people than New Zealand, with roughly 330 million people.