After the milestone announcement on Monday by New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern that the country is now virus-free, Ms Ardern said she did a little dance of her own – and it went viral. Well, another cheeky Kiwi’s interpretation of it did anyway.
After announcing that New Zealand has zero active coronavirus cases on Monday and was moving to level 1 restrictions, the world’s (unofficial) favourite Prime Minister revealed she “did a little dance” when finding out.
Cue one cheeky (and genius) YouTuber ‘GCSBro’ who decided to “leak” Ms Ardern’s dance on YouTube and unwittingly create yet another memorable ad for Tourism New Zealand in the process.
Spoiler alert. It’s not the actual dance Jacinda did.
The 1-minute video is a parody from a scene in Love Actually which features Hugh Grant as the British PM dancing to the Pointer Sisters Jump (For My Love) through 10 Downing Street. Only in this ‘NZ COVID-free’ version, Grant’s head is replaced with a grinning Ms Ardern.
The video also features a cameo at the end by New Zealand’s director-general of health and now cult hero Ashley Bloomfield who’s face appears in the background, replacing a female aide from the movie.
The fun video ends with a beaming Bloomfield as the number 0 is highlighted in a government “United against Covid-19” poster.
In just a couple of days, the video has gone viral on social media – with over 200,000 views already and plenty of positive comments to boot.
“I reckon if we asked she’d do it for real :)” said one comment from Tracey-Lea Morgan, while Anna Boivin commented “This is why I have YouTube. And she is a better Prime minister than Hugh Grant lol.”
And here’s one for you PM… “This should be used in Jacinda’s reelection campaign” says Naithleigh
And he’s probably right.
So congratulations to the people of New Zealand. Time to crack open the bubbly! And while we’re on the topic of bubbles, where are we at with the Trans-Tasman bubble plans Jacinda?
Speaking to New Zealand media yesterday, Ms Ardern said the Government was in the process of working up a new set of rules for deciding when it would be safe to open up to other countries, such as Australia or Pacific nations.
However she still wouldn’t put a timeframe on when that might be.
“Ultimately, I don’t want New Zealand businesses in particular or even Kiwis who might be wanting to travel across the ditch to be given a false start. I’d rather share timelines when we have much more certainty and the moment we just don’t, we do need to act cautiously,” Ms Ardern said.
“New Zealand is currently ahead of Australia in terms of our progress, they are making progress state-by-state, but it’s not universal. So we will keep up those conversations with Australia, we will keep preparing, but I do not have a date to share at this time.”
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand PM
Did someone say September?
Under the current COVID-19 Alert level 1, the international border is still closed to all but New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, or those granted exemptions, and those arriving must undergo 14 days in quarantine.
READ: New Zealand Declared COVID-free Restrictions Lifted From-tomorrow
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