A second royal commission into New Zealand's pandemic response has found "scars" were left by the government's handling of COVID-19, but on the whole it was "considered and appropriate".
Kiwis were plunged back into pandemic politics by the fresh probe on Tuesday, which covered a period many would like to forget.
Both Jacinda Ardern, then-prime minister, and Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who was COVID-19 Minister for much of the response, welcomed the report.
