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With more than 1,380 confirmed cases and nine deaths, New Zealand has managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus by implementing strict measures such as the lockdown that began on Mar. 26.
The leftist prime minister of New Zealand, her cabinet ministers and public service chief executives will take a 20 percent pay cut over the next six months in the fight against COVID-19.
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“While this cut in itself won’t shift the Government’s overall fiscal position it is an acknowledgement that every person and organization has a part to play as we unite to stamp out Covid-19 and save lives,” Jacinda Ardern, from New Zealand's Labor Party, who has been praised for her decisive and early handling of the crisis, said in a statement.
Ardern underlined that the total donation, estimated to amount to some NZ$1.6 million (US$972,000), would go towards efforts to combat the novel coronavirus.
“It is the right thing to do, and I acknowledge chief executives for volunteering to take the pay cut alongside us,” Ardern said. “I feel acutely the struggle many New Zealanders are facing and so too do the people I work with.”
The measures approved by the authorities in the face of the crisis include a NZ$9 billion wage subsidy to 1.5 million people in the country.
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