New Zealand has said it has ended community transmission of Covid-19. There has been single figures of new cases for many days in the country and with just one case recorded last Sunday, the Prime Minister disclosed that the pandemic has been eliminated.
However, officials have warned that complacency should be shunned. They said it does not imply the complete end of coronavirus cases.
The disclosure by the Prime Minister came few hours before New Zealand exited its toughest level of movement restrictions.
As from today, non-essential business, education and healthcare activities will resume.
However, most New Zealanders are still required to stay at home and avoid every social interaction.
At a daily government briefing, the Prime Minister, Ms Ardern said: “We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives.”
The country has reported less than 1,500 cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths.
The Director-General of Health in New Zealand, Ashley Bloomfield, said the low number of new cases recorded recently “does give us confidence that we have achieved our goal of elimination”.
He however warned that “elimination” did not translate to the fact that there won’t be no new cases “but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from”.
Ms Ardern revealed there was “no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand”. She added: “We have won that battle.”
She said New Zealand “must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way”.
