On Monday afternoon Jacinda Ardern revealed that Treasury is predicting the economic impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus is likely to be more severe than the Global Financial Crisis.
It comes as Finance Minister Grant Robertson prepares to unveil his economic stimulus package on Tuesday aimed help businesses impacted by the fallout.
The government is also taking a hard line with visitors who wont or do not self-isolate. Ardern's message for such visitors is 'leave before you're detained or deported'.
She said over the next month 107 events of 1000 attendees or more were due to take place across the country and these would be cancelled.
Ardern also confirmed she would not be travelling to Vietnam in April for the ASEAN leaders conference.
