Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged New Zealand on Sunday to unite in their battle against Covid-19, when a pandemic forced the country to celebrate the National Waituni Day online.
The continuous outbreak of Omicron variants that highly transpact has pushed all alert online, encouraging Ardern to urge vaccination.
“We all have the duty to do everything we can to protect our community with all the tools that science and drugs have been given to us,” Ardern said in a previous recorded speech.
“Togetherness is something we have shown for the past few years.
I know it’s not always easy …
but together we have, and we continue, overcome.” Data of the Ministry of Health showed 93% of those who qualified above the age of 12 were fully vaccinated and 49% of qualified adults had received booster shots, but infection continued to increase.
On Sundays, there were 208 new community cases, following the previous day’s record.
Waitangi day named for regions on the North Island where representatives of British Crown and more than 500 Maori Indigenous heads signed the founding agreement in 1840.
Maori, which accounted for around 15% of the New Zealand population, deprived of many of them soil during British occupation.
In the past, many would protest on Waitangi days for civil and social rights, criticizing the government in a row because they did not do enough.
In December, the Ardern government established Maori Health Authority to ensure better health access to Maori.
“We have an obligation to ensure that everyone has access to the health services they need, and that you do not die younger than others in New Zealand because you are Maori,” Arderny said on Sunday.
New Zealand Prime Minister urged unity in Covid on Waitangi Day
