NZ PM’s temple visit goes viral with false COVID claim

Recently a video of New Zealand Prime Minister went viral on Facebook. Several users shared it on WhatsApp and other social media platforms as well.

In that video, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern visited a Hindu temple. The video shared with a misleading claim stating that Ardern visited a temple after declaring her country COVID-free.

New Zealand were declared a COVID free nation in June as they had not reported any new cases for over two weeks. However, the country has again reported new cases of COVID-19 after some time.

On August 11, Auckland was directed to observe lockdown to prevent an outburst of the novel coronavirus.

In this scenario, the claim of video that says the PM of New Zealand visited the temple for her country is COVID-free, is false.

The video was not an old one, but it was recent. The video was taken on August 5 as per Indian Express.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern visited a Radha Krishna temple in Auckland for the upcoming national elections in September.

She removed her shoes before entering the temple and participated in the aarti. She also received Prasad from the priest.

Several newspapers highlighted the news saying that she enjoyed a traditional Indian meal of puri, dal and chole.

Many people applauded her for respecting and embracing different cultures and religions. One user wrote that it does not matter of visiting a temple as she visited a mosque as well in the past, but she can merge into the ambience and respect the other religions. Other user wrote that her activities show that she is a great leader despite her visit to a temple, masjid or church.

Image Credit: Governor-General of New Zealand / CC BY 4.0

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GGNZ_Swearing_of_new_Cabinet_-_Jacinda_Ardern_2.jpg