New Zealand PM postpones wedding after announcing new COVID-19 restrictions

The New Zealand prime minister has delayed her wedding amid an omicron surge throughout the country, the Associated Press reports.

Jacinda Ardern had planned to marry her longtime partner Clarke Gayford next weekend, but changed plans after increasing COVID-19 restrictions in the country.

The new measures came Sunday after it was discovered that a family who flew to the northern city of Auckland for a wedding was connected to nine new cases of omicron.

“I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry,” Ardern said of her postponed nuptials.

Ardern noted that the family, who came into contact with “well over 100 people,” flew to Auckland from the Nelson-Marlborough region further south in New Zealand.

“That means that omicron is now circulating in Auckland and possibly the Nelson-Marlborough region if not elsewhere,” she added.

Under the new mitigation measures, New Zealanders will be required to wear masks in public venues and on public transportation, and meetings at most venues will be curbed at 100 people based on 1 meter of physical distancing.

It’s now unclear when Ardern will wed Gayford, with whom she has a 2-year-old daughter, Neve.