WELLINGTON, April 27 (Peole's Daily Online)--New Zealand will ease its lockdown restrictions and move from Alert Level 4 to Level 3 at 11.59 pm on Monday 27 April, after a month of tight restrictions slowed the spread of coronavirus.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in order to make the move to level 2 in two weeks, there will need to be confidence that there has been no community transmission.

“I also feel a huge responsibility to ensure that we do not lose any of the gains that we have made either.”

"Stay home. If you are not at work, school, exercising or getting essentials, then you must be at home, the same as Level 4."

"We can only do this if we continue to pull together… If we need to stay at level 3, we will,” she said.

The country will hold at Alert Level 3 for two weeks, before the Cabinet reviews how the country is tracking, and will make a further decision on 11 May.

At Alert Level 3, services will open and operate normally where possible, while managing public health risks. Strict hygiene measures and physical distancing measures will remain in place.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said he was confident New Zealand can go into level 3 safely. He mentioned that a new Health Act order comes into effect tonight when the country goes into level 3.

On Monday, Bloomfield announced one more death and 5 new cases of Covid-19 in the country, bringing the total to 1,469. So far, 1,180 people have recovered from Covid-19, making up around 80 percent of cases.

With continued vigilance, the chance of widespread community outbreak in New Zealand is expected to remain low.