New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern shrugs off car chase by anti-vaxxers’s as tensions escalate over Covid restrictions

Shocking footage shows the moment Jacinda Ardern’s van is run off the road in a chase by anti-vax protesters — but the PM’s response was unexpected.

A van carrying New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was chased and forced on to a kerb by anti-vaxxers who labelled her a ‘Nazi’, days before she imposed new Covid restrictions across the country.

Footage of the incident posted online shows the group using their own vehicles to attempt to block Ms Ardern in the Bay of Islands.

The group can be heard shouting abuse at the vehicle, believed to contain the prime minister, as officers with the Diplomatic Protection Service stood guard.

“Shame on you!” one voice yelled, adding, “We do not consent.”

Jacinda Ardern’s van is ambushed by anti-vaxxers

Another protester pointed out Ms Ardern and claimed she was “hiding in the van”, going on to describe her as a “wussy” and “a Nazi”, among various other obscenities.

The video, shot on the waterfront in Paihia and posted to social media last week, shows the Mercedes V-Class attempt to pull out on to the main road, taking to the footpath to avoid a car attempting to block it in

A woman in the pursuing car says, “Oh this is fun! We‘re on a chase”, before a man says the group just wanted ”a few words” with Ms Ardern.

“We’re in pursuit for the Prime Minister,” they joke as they follow the Mercedes 7-seater.

The PM later shrugged off the car chase, telling reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that “at no point was I worried about my safety”.

“At no point was I worried about my safety or the safety of anyone that was with me,” she said.

“Every day is faced with new and different experiences in this job … We are in an environment at the moment that does have an intensity to it that is unusual for New Zealand. I do also believe that with time it will pass.”

MASSIVE NZ RULE CHANGES: WHAT IT MEANS FOR AUSSIES

New Zealand will cut isolation times for close contacts of Covid cases at the peak of its Omicron surge and supply free rapid antigen tests to the public.

It will also overhaul its testing and isolation rules to focus on protecting the critical workforce to avoid the disruption in supply chains experienced in Australia.

Jacinda Ardern’s Government on Wednesday unveiled its three phase plan to manage the Omicron outbreak in New Zealand, with health and other critical workers who are close contacts able to return to work by using a negative rapid test.

Delivery of 40 million RAT tests were expected by the end of February, and millions more were on order.

Jacinda Ardern’s governmnet will provide free rapid tests to New Zealanders. Picture: Getty

PCR tests will continue to be used in the initial phase of the outbreak, and extra capacity has been added to enable tens of thousands extra tests a day - but RAT tests will be distributed free to the public via pharmacies and community testing centres when the system struggles to cope with soaring cases.

The definition of a close contact will narrow at phase two and three of the plan to household contacts, similar to the changes rolled out in Australia when supply chain disruption saw supermarket shelves stripped off products and businesses closed.

Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall said the current isolation times of 14 days for a positive case and 10 days for a close contact were to slow the spread of Omicron at phase one but those times would reduce once the case load got higher.

BREAKING: New Zealand's three-phase public health plan for Omicron. @NewstalkZBpic.twitter.com/JXZ28OWfv9

— Aaron Dahmen (@dahmenaaron) January 26, 2022

“A rapid escalation in case numbers and the resulting pressure on our resources will also require us to shift from identifying all infected individuals to being more targeted to those most at risk and those needed to keep the country going,” Dr Verrall said.

The testing regime will refocus on protecting vulnerable communities and the critical workforce. Household contacts of positive cases will be assumed to have the virus and not required to test unless they have symptoms.

“We will also change our current testing requirements for critical workers who are close contacts of cases. The prime focus of testing and tracing will be protecting this workforce and those most vulnerable to becoming severely unwell,” Dr Verrall said.

She said protecting food distribution networks and utilities was the major priority, and the Ardern Government would add other critical sectors to those who could test and return to work.

NZ Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall. Picture: Getty

The community cluster of Omicron cases in New Zealand grew by 15 to 56.

New Zealand has managed to contain its Delta outbreak to low case numbers, with just six people in hospital and none in ICU on Wednesday.

Kiwis living in Australia and elsewhere in the world could be allowed to return without hotel quarantine by the end of February, NZ website Newsroom reported, as part of an accelerated reopening plan.

A further easing of border rules, to include visa holders and tourists, could also be brought forward from late April if modelling showed case numbers wouldn’t put pressure on the health system.

Dr Verrall said when there was a low number of cases in NZ, lots of imported cases could make a big impact but a larger outbreak would see the “balance change”.

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Originally published as New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern shrugs off car chase by anti-vaxxers’s as tensions escalate over Covid restrictions