New Zealand is easing the coronavirus lockdown for nearly the entire country first imposed last month after the Pacific nation reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case in six months.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that the nationwide alert level will be lowered to Level 2, allowing schools, businesses and offices to reopen.
The new orders will not apply to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city and the epicenter of the current outbreak that began when a 58-year-old man tested positive for the delta variant of COVID-19 in mid-August. The nation has posted 821 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the current outbreak, including 20 new cases on Monday.
Auckland will remain under strict stay-at-home orders until September 14, keeping all schools, offices and businesses shut down with only essential services remaining operational.
Prime Minister Ardern has embraced a strategy of totally eliminating COVID-19, saying it was necessary to “go hard” with the strict lockdown in order to prevent a widespread outbreak. New Zealand imposed a strict lockdown in the early days of the pandemic that has led to just 3,814 confirmed infections and just 27 deaths among its five million citizens.
