New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday.
She will not be in parliament for the government’s emissions reduction plan on Monday and the budget on Thursday, but “travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage,” the statement said.
Ardern had been symptomatic since Friday evening, returning a weak positive at night and a clear positive on Saturday morning on a rapid antigen test, it said.
She has been in isolation since Sunday, when her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive, it said.
Due to the positive test, Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of May 21, undertaking what duties she can remotely.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson will address media in her place on Monday.
“This is a milestone week for the Government and I’m gutted I can’t be there for it,” Ardern said in the statement.
“Our emissions reduction plan sets the path to achieve our carbon zero goal and the budget addresses the long-term future and security of New Zealand’s health system,” she said. “But as I said earlier in the week isolating with COVID-19 is a very kiwi experience this year and my family is no different.”
Ardern also said on Saturday that her daughter Neve had tested positive on Wednesday.
“Despite best efforts, unfortunately I’ve joined the rest of my family and have tested positive for COVID-19,” Ardern posted on her official Instagram page.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID-19
https://arab.news/5y6mu
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID-19
- She will not be in parliament for the government’s emissions reduction plan on Monday
- Due to the positive test, Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of May 21
Afghanistan says working with Tajikistan to investigate deadly border clash
- Tajikistan shares a mountainous border of about 1,350 kilometers (839 miles) with Afghanistan and has had tense relations with Kabul’s Taliban authorities, who returned to power in 2021
KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said Saturday they were working with neighboring Tajikistan to investigate a border clash earlier this week that killed five people, including two Tajik guards.
Tajikistan announced on Thursday that three members of a “terrorist” group had crossed into the Central Asian country “illegally” at Khatlon province, which borders Afghanistan.
Tajik security forces killed the trio, but two border guards also died in the clash, the Tajik national security committee said.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Saturday that “we have started serious investigations into” the recent “incidents” on Tajik soil.
“I spoke to the foreign minister of Tajikistan and we are working together to prevent such incidents,” he told an event in Kabul.
“We are worried that some malicious circles want to destroy the relations between two neighboring countries,” the minister added, without elaborating.
Tajikistan shares a mountainous border of about 1,350 kilometers (839 miles) with Afghanistan and has had tense relations with Kabul’s Taliban authorities, who returned to power in 2021.
Unlike other Central Asian leaders, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, who has been in power since 1992, has criticized the Taliban and urged them to respect the rights of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan.
At least five Chinese nationals were killed and several wounded in two separate attacks along the border with Afghanistan in late November and early December, according to Tajik authorities.
According to a UN report in December, the jihadist group Jamaat Ansarullah “has fighters spread across different regions of Afghanistan” with a primary goal “to destabilize the situation in Tajikistan.”
Dushanbe is also concerned about the presence in Afghanistan of members of the terrorist organization Daesh in Khorasan.
