Professor Anthony Staines:

New Zealand's economy is quite different from ours. It is largely a primary producing country with a lot of agriculture. The Deputy is correct that it has some advantages, as Professor Heneghan has also pointed out. However, other countries, such as Vietnam, which has a long land border with China, have successfully brought Covid down to zero. Most parts of Australia have brought Covid down to zero. There is Covid in Victoria and New South Wales but it is pretty much at zero everywhere else in Australia. South Korea has largely brought Covid down to zero, though it has had a number of outbreaks which it has dealt with. China, which may not be a good example as it is a very different society, has brought Covid down to zero. It has had two large outbreaks, one in Beijing and one in a town whose name I cannot pronounce near the Russian border. This can be done. Our society is closely connected with Europe but that does not have to mean closely connected physically. The technologies for interaction at a distance have greatly improved over the past year. We are all becoming used to working-----