New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has slammed U.S. President Donald Trump as "patently wrong" for claiming that her country is experiencing a "big surge" in Covid-19 cases, Reuters reported.

According to the New Zealand Herald, Trump made the remarks at an address to a crowd in Minnesota. He said:

"You see what's going on in New Zealand? They beat it they beat, it was like front page [news] they beat it because they wanted to show me something.

The problem is [there is a] big surge in New Zealand, you know it's terrible - we don't want that."

Ardern: New Zealand does not compare to the U.S.

In response, Ardern said the status of New Zealand does not compares with that of the U.S. or other countries.

She was quoted by Reuters as stating:

"I think anyone who’s following Covid and its transmission globally will quite easily see that New Zealand’s nine cases in a day does not compare to the United States’ tens of thousands, and in fact does not compare to most countries in the world."

She added, according to The New Zealand Herald:

"We are still one of the best-performing countries in the world when it comes to Covid and our workers are focused on keeping it that way."

New Zealand reported 13 new community cases on August 13

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, New Zealand reported 13 new community cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 1,293. The death toll stands at 22.

Last week, on Aug. 11, the country's largest city, Auckland, went into lockdown after new Covid-19 cases were discovered there, marking the end of a 102-day streak without any new cases in the South Pacific island nation.

Meanwhile, Ardern has since postponed New Zealand's general election for a month — a move which was welcomed by the country's opposition.

As for the U.S., it has reported over 5.2 million cases and nearly 170,000 deaths from Covid-19.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, 41,893 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Sunday, Aug. 16.

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Top image collage, left photo from Donald Trump's Facebook, right photo by Hagen Hopkins via Getty Images