Written by Angella Semu

New Zealand has announced that it will remove all restrictions which were put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country after the last known patient recovers from it.

The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed this on Monday June 8 during a news conference.

Ardern announced that the country will move to national alert level 1 by lifting all requirements for social distancing and restrictions on businesses starting from Monday midnight.

New Zealand recorded its first case of the disease on 28 February 2020 and the last known case was that of a woman from Auckland who was reported on 22 May 2020. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed that the last known patient has been symptom-free for 48 hours and is therefore regarded as recovered.

A report by The Guardian indicated that New Zealand was declared on lockdown on March 25 as one way of reducing the spread of the virus after reporting over 200 cases and it has been gradually easing the restrictions.

Commenting on the matter, World Healthy Organization (WHO) has praised the Prime minister’s approach to the virus which has produced successful results.

New Zealand had a total of 1,504 confirmed cases of the novel Coronavirus and 22 people reportedly died from the virus with the last recovery reported on 8 June 2020.