New Zealand's Prime Minister cited Ireland as she spoke about countries "taking ages" to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns.
Jacinda Ardern was speaking in a public address as she explained the good position New Zealand find themselves in when it comes to rebooting their economy.
The PM stressed that some people won't be back in work in Ireland until July while their country will be well ahead.
Mrs Ardern said: "I think the majority of New Zealanders do want us to be cautious because we want to do it once and do it right.
"The worst thing we could do is move prematurely and then yo-yo between levels with people in and out of work for a prolonged period of time - that would be disastrous.
"The great position we are in though is that we can move through in relatively short periods of time if we get it right.
"I was just looking at Ireland, their stepping down is taking them through to July before some people are back in work. Because we’ve actually been able to contain as we have, if we do it right, we’ll be back in quick step back into getting the economy moving again.
"Whereas others are taking a very long time."
New Zealand eased lockdown last week to allow businesses to resume and economy to start moving.
The country so far has recorded 1,487 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 20 deaths.
