New Zealand plans to ease coronavirus lockdown in a week

AKIPRESS.COM - New Zealanders will remain in total lockdown for another week, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, with restrictions easing if elimination progress is maintained, Guardian reports. Speaking at the Beehive in Wellington, Ardern said New Zealand was in with a fighting chance of eliminating the disease, and the number of deaths was low enough that she still received a phone call for each one.
"We have done what very few countries have been able to do. We have stopped a wave of devastation," Ardern said.
"Our transmission rate, the number of cases each person with the virus passes it onto, is now 0.48, less than half a person each. Overseas the average is 2.5 people. We have amongst the lowest number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people in the world."