David Clark, the health minister of New Zealand has resigned on Thursday. The minister resigned after criticism rised over handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Criticism has been aroused as coronavirus infection has been detected again in the island nation just days after officials declared it had been eliminated from the country. He was also criticized for violating lockdown rules twice earlier in the year, by taking his family on a beach trip and driving to a mountain biking track.
“It has become increasingly clear to me that my continuation in the role is distracting from the government’s overall response to Covid-19 and the global pandemic,” Clark said at a news conference in Wellington.
New Zealand had declared in early June that the country had eliminated coronavirus. Just days later it was revealed that two women who arrived from Britain who were allowed to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds later tested positive for the virus.
The country still has no known cases of community transmission, but there are 22 active cases at the border through returning New Zealanders.
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