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A top official in New Zealand's government was demoted and called himself an "idiot" after he breached a nationwide lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak to go to the beach with his family.

Health Minister David Clark drove his family about 12 miles to take a walk in March as the country faced COVID-19 restrictions.

"At a time when we are asking New Zealanders to make historic sacrifices, I've let the team down," Clark said in a statement. "I've been an idiot, and I understand why people will be angry with me."

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Clark had admitted earlier to driving to a park near his home to go mountain biking.

His actions came as the government asked the nation of nearly 5 million people to make "historic sacrifices" to stay at home.

In late March, New Zealand started a four-week national lockdown by closing schools, restaurants, cafes and gyms, and shutting its borders to most foreign nationals.

On Tuesday, it also extended for a second time the state of national emergency for an additional seven days.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said under "normal circumstances," she would have fired Clark. But she said the country couldn’t afford a massive disruption in its health sector while fighting the virus.

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Instead, Ardern said she was stripping Clark of his role as associate finance minister and demoting him in the Cabinet rankings.

“I expect better, and so does New Zealand,” she said.

Ashley Bloomfield, the director-general of health, said Tuesday at a briefing that the Pacific nation’s new daily cases of COVID-19 had dropped to 54, the lowest count in nearly two weeks, according to Reuters.

New Zealand has had a turnaround in its battle against the virus, with the number of people recovered so far exceeding the number of daily infections, according to the Washington Post.

Ardern's swift ordering of lockdown to prevent another situation like what happened in Italy and Spain has been praised by one of the country’s top epidemiologists as "a triumph of science and leadership."

The actions by the New Zealand official came as Scotland's chief medical officer resigned Sunday after breaking her own coronavirus lockdown advice when she went to her second home about an hour outside of Edinburgh and she went with her family to take their dog for a walk.

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As of Tuesday, there are 1,160 cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand, with one death reported, according to Johns Hopkins University. About 241 people have recovered from the virus in the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.