This article by RNZ is republished with permission
There are no active cases and no new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.
The ministry says they were notified by Auckland Regional Public Health that its remaining case has been symptom free for 48 hours and is regarded as recovered.
The person has now been released from isolation, they said.
Their case had been linked to the St Margaret’s Hospital and Rest Home cluster in Auckland.
“This is really good news for the person concerned, and it’s also something the rest of New Zealand can take heart from,” Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement.
Dr Bloomfield said it’s the first time since 28 February that there have been no active cases.
There are also no new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand for the 17th day in a row and no futher deaths.
The last reported new case of Covid-19 in this country was on 22 May.
There was no stand-up today from the Ministry of Health or Dr Bloomfield. Instead, he will be attending a media conference at 3pm where the prime minister will be giving an update after Cabinet’s meeting to decide whether to move to alert level 1.
- If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre
The ministry said the total number of confirmed cases remains at 1,154. The combined total of confirmed and probable cases remains at 1,504.
The number of recovered cases is now 1,482.
There is no-one in hospital receiving care for Covid-19.
The ministry said 800 tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 294,848.
Cabinet is today deciding whether to loosen restrictions to alert level 1 while keeping the borders closed.
National Party leader Todd Muller said every day of level 2 was another blow for businesses and there can be no justification for remaining in it.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he was as “keen as anyone” to move to level 1 but Cabinet’s decision would be informed by the latest advice.