Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand has won the community transmission battle with Covid-19

New cases in New Zealand have been in single figures for eight days.

New Zealand is to ease some of its strict lockdown rules, which have been in place for four weeks, after it successfully limited the spread of coronavirus. On Monday, New Zealand reported one further death from Covid-19 along with five new cases. It marks the eight day in a row that new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand were in single figures. 19 people have died from Covid-19 in New Zealand since the outbreak began. The country has spent a number of weeks with only essential services operating during Level Four restrictions, but the country moved to Level Three restrictions at midnight on Monday. This means that some non-essential businesses, educational activities and healthcare will be able to resume. New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the country has won the current battle with coronavirus through its collective action. "We have done this together," Ardern said during her daily briefing. "There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle." While some restrictions are being eased, many people will still have to remain at home and strict social distancing rules will apply. Ardern said that while transmission has been greatly reduced, especially community transmission, there was no certainty about when it could be eliminated and normal life could resume for everyone. "We are opening up the economy, but we're not opening up people's social lives," Ardern said. New Zealand will remain at a Level Three lockdown for two weeks, after which a decision will be made to extend or ease the restrictions. “We can only do this if we continue to pull together," Ardern said. "If we need to stay at level 3 we will.” “To succeed we must hunt down the last few cases of the virus,” she added. “This is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”