The prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern was interrupted during a live interview by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake.

Arden was appearing on The AM Show today to discuss how the country was battling the coronavirus pandemic after having no new cases for a number of days.

However, the interview was briefly interrupted when the room began to shake.

Watch Ardern's remarkably calm reaction to the earthquake below:

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As the quake hit the parliament in Wellington just before 8 am, she calmly told the interviewer: "We're just having a bit of a quake here, Ryan… quite a decent shake. If you see things moving behind me, the Beehive moves a little more than most."

The show's host then asked if it was safe to continue the interview, and Arden said it was, adding: "I’m not under any hanging lights, I look like I'm in a structurally sound place."

As per GeoNet, New Zealand's seismology agency, the earthquake struck around 30km north-west of Levin at a depth of 29km and lasted around 30 seconds. There were no reports of any major injuries or damage.

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Shortly after the interview, the prime minister was asked what she was thinking during the earthquake, and she said: "Are you serious? That was what was going through my head."

Ardern has been repeatedly praised for her ability to handle difficult situations with ease and her cool, calm response to the earthquake did not go unnoticed on social media.

One Twitter user wrote: "I'd praise her coolness under pressure, but I just assume the very earth itself knows not to mess with her at this point and stopped out of respect."

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A second UK-based viewer added: "Always good to have someone who’s cool and calm at the helm in a crisis, New Zealand has Jacinda Ardern, unfortunately we have Boris Johnson…"

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A third remarked: "Why am I not surprised that Jacinda Ardern casually takes an earthquake interrupting her interview in her stride."

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A fourth added: "New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is the coolest cat around. First she dispatches with COVID-19. And here she is calm as can be doing her live interview during an EARTHQUAKE. #ElectMoreWomen"

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While there have been no new cases of coronavirus in New Zealand for a number of days now, the country is far from being out of the woods, and that's why Ardern is continuing to play it safe with the country's response for now.

"We do still have risk, we do still have people travelling into the country… We do still have cases active in New Zealand, so we can't be complacent," she said.

New Zealand's Jacinda Arden's live interview interrupted by 5.8 magnitude earthquake