Changes

This wave of COVID-19 peaked at around 250 cases<ref>https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/new-zealand/</ref> in mid-December to then gradually decrease due to the population building up natural immunity<ref>https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2109/S00096/covid-immunity-calculus.htm</ref>. The decline of the Delta wave of COVID-19 did not result in COVID-19 being eradicated from the community as what public health "experts" of the country hoped for because of the new wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The Omicron wave started in mid-February of 2022 and to this date has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being infected with it.<ref>https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/coronavirus-new-zealand-covid-death-toll-spikes-to-105-as-people-losing-years-of-a-potential-healthy-life.html</ref>

This wave of COVID-19 peaked at around 250 cases<ref>https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/new-zealand/</ref> in mid-December to then gradually decrease due to the population building up natural immunity<ref>https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2109/S00096/covid-immunity-calculus.htm</ref>. The decline of the Delta wave of COVID-19 did not result in COVID-19 being eradicated from the community as what public health "experts" of the country hoped for because of the new wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. The Omicron wave started in mid-February of 2022 and to this date has resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being infected with it.<ref>https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/coronavirus-new-zealand-covid-death-toll-spikes-to-105-as-people-losing-years-of-a-potential-healthy-life.html</ref>

Despite the country's authoritarian measures to stop Covid, it still resulted in the deaths of 3,426 people as of August 29<ref>https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-current-cases</ref>, far exceeding the deaths from the virus in the United States due to low natural immunity.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/31/new-zealand-natural-immunity-coronavirus-failures-worse-than-united-states</ref>

Despite the country's authoritarian measures to stop Covid, it still resulted in the deaths of 45,738 people as of January 18, 2023<ref>https://www.health.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-current-cases</ref>, far exceeding the deaths from the virus in the United States due to low natural immunity.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/31/new-zealand-natural-immunity-coronavirus-failures-worse-than-united-states</ref>

===Public perception===

===Public perception===