Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that New Zealand could move to Level 1 as early as next week.
Despite initial thoughts that New Zealand would remain in Level 2 until the end of June, Ardern said today that there is increasing optimism that we will not see any new cases within the transition cycle since moving to Level 2.
“I can confirm that cabinet will review its Alert Level settings at its next meeting on Monday, June 8,” said Ardern in a press conference.
“If, and only if, there are no further unexpected cases over the coming days then we could be in a position to move to Level 1 that week.”
Ardern said she will be providing further details on Level 1 this week but in short, the last remaining restrictions on physical distancing and restrictions on mass gatherings will be removed.
This means that restrictions on bars – including seated customers, no dance floors and less than 100 people in each venue – will also be removed.
“We will be one of the first countries in the world to have experienced a Covid outbreak and then returned to normality so quickly,” said Ardern.
For more information on Covid-19 in NZ, click here.
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