The Minister of Civil Defence took the step to further extend the state of national emergency because of the unprecedented nature of this global pandemic and because the response required to combat this disease successfully in terms of going hard and going early is of such a magnitude that it is not something that is within the capacity of local civil defence emergency management groups to respond to on their own. We only need to look overseas to see those who have not taken these drastic steps early on in their disease progression to see that many of them are still in lockdown and still bearing the economic consequences, as well as the health consequences. A strong public health response will position us best for a rapid economic recovery.