Quote:New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday her left-wing Labour government won’t lift coronavirus restrictions until they are “well beyond” the peak of the virus, speaking even as anti-mandate protest numbers continue to swell in the capital.

Ardern has predicted that coronavirus case numbers are likely to peak mid-late March, but restrictions including reporting who you meet with in public via the NZ COVID-19 Tracer app, social distancing from people you don’t know, vaccine passes and mandatory vaccinations will remain until further notice.

The leader has claimed the vaccine passports resulted in New Zealand avoiding “more general restrictions across the whole population”, and insisted the current measures including vaccine passes are “temporary.”

Ardern, a former president of the International Union of Socialist Youth who mysteriously blamed “imported” forces for driving protests in her country, also highlighted despite the measures being “temporary” she has stated they will “remain important in some areas though, for some time”.