Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I wish to make a ministerial statement informing the House of a state of national emergency and the country moving to alert level 4. Having considered the advice of the Director of Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a state of emergency for the whole of New Zealand under section 66 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 on 25 March 2020 at 12:21 p.m. This is to manage the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic within New Zealand. The Minister of Civil Defence took this step because of the unprecedented nature of this global pandemic and because he considered the response required to combat COVID-19 is of such a degree that it will be beyond the capacity of local civil defence emergency management groups to respond to it on their own.