New Zealand beat Covid-19 by trusting leaders and following advice – study

New Zealand beat Covid-19 by trusting leaders and following advice – study Exclusive: Research finds citizens had high level of knowledge about coronavirus and how it spread the Guardian

QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND --The secrets to New Zealand’s success at eliminating coronavirus has been revealed by university researchers, who have found compliance with basic hygiene practices and trust in authorities was at nearly 100%.

Researchers at Massey University interviewed more than 1,000 people post-lockdown, to investigate how New Zealanders responded to the pandemic.

“We came together as a country, in part because we believed in our political and health experts to deliver and they did,” said Dr Jagadish Thaker, a senior lecturer at the school of communication, journalism & marketing at Massey University.

“Simple, clear health messages, communicated with kindness and empathy, resonate with people, even when they are demanding tough changes.”

A total of 22 people died in New Zealand of the disease and less than 1,500 were infected, after stringent border controls were introduced and a nationwide lockdown came into force on 25 March – one of the earliest in the world.

“About nine in ten New Zealanders know about the symptoms, protective behaviours, and about the asymptomatic transmission. A large majority of New Zealanders correctly identified false or misleading statements.”

New Zealanders also showed a high level of knowledge that enabled them to dispel some of the common myths regarding coronavirus, with 94% of respondents knowing that it was false that only elderly people get infected, and that 5G towers were spreading it.

In mid-May New Zealand began to loosen lockdown restrictions and two months later the country has largely returned to normal, apart from the borders remaining closed.