How New Zealand beat Covid: Why early lockdown and stringent quarantine kept cases down to fewer than 2,000

New Zealand has been held up as an example by the World Health Organisation of how to effectively tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The remote Pacific island has less than 2,000 Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths, from a population of about five million. That is roughly the same size as Scotland, which for comparison has recorded more than 59,000 cases and above 2,700 deaths. So what is New Zealand’s secret to success? In short, locking down early and keeping the virus stamped out.