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Kiwi's response to people saying NZ beat Covid-19 because it's 'a small island'

Author
Vera Alves, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 15 Jun 2020, 2:41pm
(Image / Twitter)
(Image / Twitter)

Kiwi's response to people saying NZ beat Covid-19 because it's 'a small island'

Author
Vera Alves, NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Mon, 15 Jun 2020, 2:41pm

When Wendy Lester woke up this morning, she didn't expect to go viral on Twitter - but that seems to be what's happening.

After seeing many people from other countries attempting to dismiss New Zealand's Covid-19 success, Lester decided to use an image to demystify the idea that we are a "tiny island".

"Good morning from New Zealand. Here's one for all of you 'tiny island' people who keep jumping into my timelines," she posted, alongside an image she found online of the New Zealand map juxtaposed over a map of Europe.

The image shows that the "tiny island" is actually a long country that spans from the top of Denmark to almost the south of France.

The visual representation of how New Zealand's land mass compares to Europe brings home the size of the country that many dismiss as "tiny".

Lester told the Herald she thought it was funny that she didn't even mention Covid-19 in her tweet but everyone seemed to interpret it the same way.

The tweet had nearly 1000 likes in less than four hours and continues to spread.

It also generated quite a few discussions on land mass comparisons with other Covid-19 affected countries and states, as well as discussions on population size and density.

The same image had been used on Twitter in August 2019 by former Prime Minister Helen Clark, long before Covid-19 hit the country, also to make the argument that New Zealand is not as small as people think it is.

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