New Zealand Excited to Meet PM’s First Child as Ardern Admitted to Hospital

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) shakes hands with Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters after her speech during the 2018 budget presentation at Parliament on May 17, 2018 in Wellington, New Zealand. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

WELLINGTON—New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was admitted to hospital in Auckland early on Thursday for the birth of her first child.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was now acting prime minister and would run the country for the next six weeks while Ardern took maternity leave according to a previously published agreement, her office said in a statement.