Social media users heap praise on Jacinda Ardern as New Zealand goes a week without any new Covid-19 infection

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been showered with praise after New Zealand went an entire week without recording a single new coronavirus infection.

New Zealand has all but eradicated Covid-19 from its shores, with just one person in the nation of some five million people known to be still infected.

The country's success in battling the pandemic has been, in part, attributed to Ms Ardern's swift decision to roll out a strict nationwide lockdown on March 25 in a bid to prevent widespread transmission.

Now, with the lockdown having since been eased and with health authorities not recording any new virus cases for a week, the plaudits have poured in on social media for the nation's third female prime minister.

One Twitter user wrote: "Congratulations PM Jacinda Arden and the people of New Zealand! We all need leaders like her."

Another added: "New Zealand rocks and so does its prime minister."

One other user praised the Prime Minister as a "true leader" and suggested "the world would be a better place if we had more like Jacinda Arden".

Several others from around the world meanwhile jokingly wondered whether they could also have Ms Ardern as their own leader.

New Zealand has to date recorded 1,504 coronavirus infections. Of those to have contracted the virus, 22 people have died.

All but one of the rest have now recovered.

The nation’s borders remain closed, and staying virus-free when they eventually reopen is expected to pose a big challenge.

However, Ms Ardern said earlier this month that New Zealand will not have open borders with the rest of the world for "a long time to come".