As we now look, 18 months into the pandemic, New Zealanders can be proud of the approach that they have taken to COVID-19. It is one that has left us in a position of having one of the lowest mortality rates from COVID-19 in the world, one of the lowest hospitalisation rates from COVID-19 in the world, one of the fewest days of restrictions of any country in the world, and an economy that has thrived to the extent that today, Standard & Poor's indicate that New Zealand and Singapore are the only two countries in the Asia-Pacific that they forecast to continue growing through the second half of 2021.