New Zealand has declared itself coronavirus-free as there have been no new active cases recorded for over two weeks. The country will move to Level 1 of its alert system and almost all restrictions will be lifted.
‘There are no active cases in the country, almost 40,000 tests in the past 17 days have turned up no positive results and it’s been 40 days since the last case of community transmission – and 22 days since that person finished self-isolation,’ said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in an official government statement.
‘With care and commitment our team of 5 million has united to protect New Zealanders’ health and ensure we now have a head-start on our economic recovery,’ said Ardern.
In an Instagram post, Ardern also thanked her country for their dedication. ‘We have a long road to travel yet, but for now, thank you New Zealand. Everyone sacrificed a huge amount so that we could be in the position to lift restrictions today, and announce that we have no active cases of COVID 19 for the first time since February.’
The country first went into lockdown on 25 March and instituted a four-stage alert system, according to BBC. Social distancing is a thing of the past for the country, as well as limitations on public gatherings. Borders will still remain closed.
‘We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time – it is a sustained effort. The world will remain in the grip of a global pandemic for some time to come and we will see cases here again, which we must remain prepared for,’ concluded Ardern.
Professor of Public Health at the University of Otago, Michael Baker said that moving to Level 1 is symbolic of the achievement of quashing the virus.
[Moving to level 1] ‘is a statement that we have achieved the goal of eliminating the COVID-19 virus from this country. This is, however, only the first battle in what will be a long-term war against this virus. The threat from COVID-19 obviously remains while this pandemic continues across the globe,’ said Baker according to Bangkok Post.
New Zealand had 1,154 confirmed cases and 22 deaths from COVID-19 since the first reported case in late February.
Congratulations to the PM of New Zealand, Jacinda Arden for bringing the nation to the state where all nations are still aiming at. NZ is now corona free with testing more than 40K people in last 17 days and none being positive.
Surely we need more women leaders! #JacindaArdern pic.twitter.com/BfQ78TtQuF— Damni Kain (@DamniKain) June 8, 2020
Image credit: Facebook / Jacinda Ardern
