As New Zealand beats COVID\, Kerala too rejoices

Keral

As New Zealand beats COVID, Kerala too rejoices

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (left) greets an employee of a fruit storage facility in Tauranga on Tuesday. Restrictions have been lifted after the country was declared COVID-19-free.  

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has quite a fan following in the State, especially in Malappuram

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has quite a fan following in the State. Her fans not only keep a tab on the daily developments in New Zealand but also stay in touch with her through mails, emails and social media.

M.K. Promodh, who retired from Calicut University last year as its Joint Controller of Examinations, was excited on Monday when Ms. Ardern shared her joy of declaring the island nation as COVID-19-free.

“There are two pieces of good news that I’m happy to be able to share with you today. First, there are now no active cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand. Second, we announced today that as of midnight tonight, New Zealand will move down from alert level two to alert level one,” Ms. Ardern wrote to Mr. Promodh in a personal mail. The Prime Minister went on to describe the situation in New Zealand in vivid detail and thanked Mr. Promodh for his prayers and personal inquiries.

“We have been communicating frequently and engaging in healthy discussions. She is an amazing woman with exceptional diplomatic and governing skills. Above all, she is a great human being with a kind and compassionate heart,” said Mr. Promodh.

Greetings from PM

Ms. Ardern used to greet him ‘Kia Ora’, which means ‘good health’ in Maori language and is widely considered a beautiful greeting to any person. It is considered a Maori equivalent of Arabic greeting Asslamu Alaikum, which means ‘peace be upon you.’

Last year, Ms. Ardern had written a personal letter to Amana Ashraf, a Class X student from Ponnani, sharing her joy of being in touch with friends from around the world, including Kerala. The Prime Minister had even shared the personal well-being of her daughter Neve, who was one year old then.

Ms. Ardern and her political secretary and a Member of New Zealand Parliament Priyanca Radhakrishnan had greeted the Keralites during Onam last year in a special video.

In her communications with Mr. Promodh and Amana, Ms. Ardern had shared her excitement about Kerala and its spectacular beauty. “I hope to see it for myself one day,” she wrote to Amana.

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