New Zealand is now free of coronavirus, as for the first time since February there are no active cases in the country.
The country had been dealing with 1,504 confirmed coronavirus cases out of which 22 people died while the majority of the patients recovered. It had been performed some 294,800. The country has recorded 17 days without any new cases.
Shaun Hendy, who heads Te Pūnaha Matatini, a science body that advises the government on COVID-19, said early enforcement of some of the toughest lockdown measures was “crucial” to the country’s success, as other countries experienced slow virus spread and increased death tolls.
Hendy told to the international news source, “This arrested the virus before it was widespread amongst essential service workers and meant that our contact tracers had fewer people to trace when new cases were found,”
“We ramped up testing early which led to very effective case isolation.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has announced it will reopen the country with the lowest level of restrictions. Earlier she had announced that most of the restrictions would be lifted below alert level 1. But it will not open its borders again.
New Zealand’s health ministry said, after staying free of symptoms for 48 hours, the last case was declared as recovered. New Zealand is all set to announce coronavirus elimination on 15 June.
