The Pacific nation of 5 million people had seemed to stop community transmission of COVID-19 due to tough lockdown measures but reintroduced restrictions in its largest city, Auckland, this month following a fresh outbreak. With restrictions to scale back on Sunday, Ardern said in a Facebook post she was taking matters into her own hands before masks become compulsory on public transport across the country the following day. At a meeting with local community health leader Dave Letele, “one of the things we talked about was face coverings, and how to make your own at home,” Ardern, who faces a general election in October, wrote in the post.
