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On Monday at 11:59 pm local time, New Zealand lifted its strict lockdown. While many restrictions remain, the economy will restart nearly five weeks after it was shuttered. Businesses, restaurants and schools will begin to reopen, with limitations in place, and an estimated 1 million New Zealanders will return to work.

There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle, said the countrys prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Monday. But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way.

While much of the rest of the world continues to struggle under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand has stood out not only for how quickly it contained the virus but for the way its leader has led the country through the crisis.

When faced with the difficult task of telling New Zealanders they were about to be placed into lockdown for at least four weeks, Ardern came through with a simple message: Be kind. We will get through this together but only if we stick together, so please be strong and be kind, Ardern said.

The 39-year-old leaders approach has been driven by messages of unity and empathy, communicated in an accessible way. Just before lockdown, she addressed the country on a Facebook Live video , wearing a green sweatshirt after just having put her toddler daughter to bed.

Her leadership style stands in stark contrast to those of other world leaders, such as US President Donald Trump, who has swung from downplaying the significance of COVID-19 to rushing to pin blame on China and the World Health Organisation when the severity of the pandemic became clear.

While the style of her approach has been informal and relatable, her action has been firm.

Ardern has led the way in embracing science and has a good relationship with her public health officials . On their advice, New Zealand pursued a policy of elimination, rather than mitigation, which meant the country shut down businesses and its borders when there were around 100 coronavirus cases and before any deaths. Meanwhile other countries, such as Australia, the US and the UK, stepped up restrictions only as the impacts of the pandemic worsened.

And her approach appears to have worked, with the caveat that we are so early on in our understanding of this virus, no one can be sure what will happen as economies start to reopen. The country has not only flattened the curve but, in a phrase coined by The Washington Post, has squashed it . At the time of writing, there have been 19 recorded deaths and 1,122 confirmed cases there. Ardern says the virus is currently eliminated from New Zealand .

Despite the toughness of her response, which placed huge restrictions on New Zealanders, Arderns approval rating is her highest since taking office.

She has taken steps to ensure messages of unity are more than just words. At a time when some US politicians stood accused of making money from the virus , Ardern and her ministers took a 20% pay cut for six months to show solidarity with those affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Many hope that her particular brand of leadership could not only help steer New Zealand away from the tragic death tolls experienced in other countries, but also help her to take the opportunity to build a better society in New Zealand post-pandemic. The country now faces an uphill battle to recover economically, with growing rates of unemployment in a nation already struggling with homelessness and child poverty.

A leadership style built on empathy

Those who know Ardern say her unique package of skills sets her apart on the global stage. Jacinda has three fantastic qualities, Helen Clark, who was New Zealands prime minister from 1999 to 2008, told HuffPost. She is clever, she is empathetic and she is a good communicator. Put those three things together and when you are faced with an unprecedented challenge like COVID-19, you have a leader that has enormous assets that can pull a country through just about anything.

Clark noted that Ardern has already shown her leadership abilities in dealing with two domestic crises. After the Christchurch mosque shootings , where a gunman killed 51 people in March 2019, she moved quickly to implement stricter gun laws. Then in December 2019 came the White Island volcanic eruption , which killed 21 people. Ardern, who was photographed embracing first responders, received praise for a response perceived as human and empathetic.