The country has been praised around the world for its response to Covid-19.
New Zealand will lift its Covid-19 lockdown on its largest city after just one week.
It comes after last Saturday when a new case emerged in Auckland that contact tracing could not explain and where a large number of exposure events posed a significant risk of spread.
The country adopted a “cautious approach” and put Auckland into lockdown, but has since conducted over 50,000 Covid-19 tests with the majority in the major city.
There has been no new cases of the virus reported for five days in New Zealand and so the country’s Cabinet made the decision to end the stay-at-home order at 6am on Sunday.
This will see Auckland move to Level 2 restricions where people can go to work and school, but should follow certain public health measures.
These include keeping two metres of social distancing from others when out in public, wearing a face covering when this is not possible, and a limit of no more than 100 people at social events.
Cabinet are set to review their decision at the end of next week with a view to moving Auckland to Level 1 at the start of the weekend if the city is in a position to do so.
Meanwhile, the rest of New Zeland will be moved to Level 1 at 6am this Sunday as well.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a briefing: “We may not be in the devastating position that much of the rest of the world finds itself in but an elimination strategy can still feel like hard work.
“It is completely natural to feel fatigued. Thank you for pushing through once again.”
New Zealand has been praised around the world for its response to Covid-19, with the country recording only 26 deaths in a population of five million.
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