With no new cases for two weeks, New Zealand lifts COVID-19 restrictions

New Zealand lifted restrictions on social distancing and public gatherings after reporting no new cases for 2 weeks. They are also keeping their borders closed.

How did New Zealand managed to contain the virus, when so many others, most notably the United States, have failed miserably? Pretty simple, they agree to take the necessary precautions to keep the disease from spreading. From the BBC:

New Zealand first went into lockdown on 25 March, setting up a new four-stage alert system and going in at level four, where most businesses were shut, schools closed and people told to stay at home.

After more than five weeks, it moved to level three in April, allowing takeaway food shops and some non-essential businesses to re-open.

As the number of community cases continued to decline, the country moved into level two in mid-May.

The move to level one comes ahead of time - the government had originally planned to make the move on 22 June, but it was brought forward after no new cases were reported for 17 days.

Image: Devonport, NZ in 2003 by Mark Frauenfelder