New Zealand’s Health Minister Visits Beach With Family During Coronavirus Lockdown, Gets Demoted

New Zealand’s health minister David Clark was demoted from his position after he had ignored coronavirus lockdown rules and drove to the beach with his family.

Clark had decided to drive with his family to Doctor's Point beach located about 12.4 miles away from his home in Dunedin while ignoring the lockdown rules, according to which vehicles were permitted only for purchasing essential supplies.

This comes a week after he was photographed going out for a mountain bike ride a short distance away from his house. He later apologized for the incident, stating that it was because of poor judgment.

He admitted that the drive to the beach was a clear breach of the country's lockdown principles and also offered his resignation to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices I’ve let the team down. I’ve been an idiot, and I understand why people will be angry with me,” said Clark in a statement.

Ardern, however, declined to accept his resignation due to the on-going crisis caused by COVID-19, but instead, he was demoted in cabinet rankings and also lost his secondary position as associate finance minister.

“Under normal conditions, I would sack the minister of health. What he did was wrong, and there are no excuses. But right now, my priority is our collective fight against COVID-19. We cannot afford massive disruption in the health sector or to our response. For that reason, and that reason alone, Dr Clark will maintain his role,” Ardern mentioned in a statement.

“I expect better, and so does New Zealand,” she added while stating that Clark needs to be penalized for breaking the rules.

On March 25, New Zealand was placed under level four lockdown, the highest state of lockdown in the country.

As of Tuesday, New Zealand has reported 1,160 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 241 people have recovered, and one person died from the disease. Meanwhile, there are a total of 1,348,184 confirmed cases around the world and the death toll has reached 74,816.