On Tuesday afternoon, 17 August 2021, we were advised of a case in the community with no obvious connection to the border. In a matter of hours after this, the Cabinet had met and agreed a move for all of New Zealand to COVID-19 alert level 4 from 11.59 p.m. that evening. It's now 14 days since COVID-19 re-emerged in the community and New Zealand moved to alert level 4. It was news that nobody wanted. The events of the last two weeks, however, have once again confirmed the value of going hard and going early. Elimination remains New Zealand's best strategy, and we are throwing everything at it.