New Zealand’s prime minister turned away from cafe under coronavirus restrictions

Not even New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was exempt from her own coronavirus restrictions after she was turned away from a cafe that was at capacity under physical distancing guidelines.

Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford were rejected from a popular cafe in Wellington on Saturday, according to a post by a Twitter user named Joey. Gayford responded to the tweet, admitting, “I have to take responsibility for this, I didn’t get organized and book anywhere.”

Gayford added that the restaurant chased them down when a spot freed up and he gave them an “A+” for service.

After Ardern announced last week that the country will move from Alert Level 3 down to Level 2, cafes, movie theaters and restaurants in New Zealand were allowed to reopen last Thursday, as long as they did so with strict hygiene measures and physical distancing in place.

Ardern has been praised for her country’s response to the pandemic. As of Sunday, New Zealand has 1,149 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 350 probable cases and 21 deaths. Ardern announced late last month that the virus had been “eliminated” in her country after nearly five weeks of strict lockdown measures.

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to remove a quote from Jacinda Arden’s spokesperson. The quote was incorrectly attributed to TVNZ.