New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardem has said the country has managed to avoid an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Report reaching us as at Checkout Magazine has it that there were just five new Covid-19 cases reported on Monday with no widespread community transition.
Ardern said the country has so far managed to avoid the worst scenarios for an outbreak and would continue to hunt down the last few cases.
As a result, the government is easing the lockdown as certain businesses such as construction will be allowed to reopen, but social distancing rules will still apply.
“We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives,” Ms Ardern said at the daily government briefing.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the low number of new cases in recent days “does give us confidence that we have achieved our goal of elimination”.
He warned that “elimination” did not mean there would be no new cases, “but it does mean we know where our cases are coming from”.
Ms Ardern said there was “no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand”, adding: “We have won that battle.”
