THE first day of alert level one kicked off with no new cases of Covid-19.
The last reported new case of Covid-19 was on May 22, and director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said they were confident community transmission of the virus had been eliminated.
Dr Bloomfield also announced tighter border controls to protect New Zealanders from the global environment.
“People entering New Zealand are already required to stay in managed isolation or quarantine for at least 14 days.
“From today, everyone in managed isolation will be tested twice for Covid-19 and will require a negative result before they leave.
“From today people in managed isolation will no longer be able to apply for exemptions to attend funerals and tangihanga.
“They will still be able to apply for compassionate leave to be with a small group of loved ones before or after a funeral or tangihanga, but not to attend the actual event. People in quarantine have never been able to attend such events.
“We’re making this change because someone who has potentially been exposed overseas now poses a greater risk wider spread of Covid-19 at large gatherings.
“Without the security offered by size restrictions on gatherings and physical distancing we need correspondingly tighter protections at the border.
“New Zealanders have worked very hard and sacrificed a great deal to get to where we are, and we don’t want to go backwards now,” Dr Bloomfield said.
The information for people travelling back to New Zealand to attend funeral or tangihanga has been updated on the Ministry of Health’s website.
It is now 18 days since the last new case was reported in New Zealand.
The total number of confirmed cases remains at 1154, and the combined total of confirmed and probable cases remains at 1504. The number of recovered cases is 1482.
“We do need to continue to be prepared for additional cases in the future. It’s almost certain new cases will pop up, this has been the evidence from overseas,” said Dr Bloomfield.
The NZ Covid Tracer app has recorded 535,000 registrations.