ENTERING RECOVERY PHASE
The country’s health minister resigns after a series of missteps.
MEASURES
- New Zealand’s Minister of Health David Clark resigned on July 2, following security slip-ups at quarantine facilities that ended the nation’s 24-day streak of being COVID-19-free. Clark came under heavy criticism for breaching strict lockdown rules earlier this year, which resulted in him being demoted to the bottom of the Cabinet ranks and stripped of his role as associate finance minister.
- Citing that continuing in his role as health minister is distracting from the government’s COVID response, Clark’s decision comes right before New Zealand heads into a general election in September.
- Education minister Chris Hipkins has since been appointed as interim health minister, at least until the September elections.