Jacinda Ardern’s government is ending New Zealand’s lockdown outside Auckland after seeing a dip in COVID-19 cases.

New Zealand has spent 20 days in lockdown to fight a Delta variant outbreak, first identified by a single case on August 17.

From a peak of 83 cases on Sunday August 29, cases have slipped to 20 a day, recorded on each of the last three days.

With a lack of cases outside of New Zealand’s biggest city, Ms Ardern has given the rest of North Island and the COVID-free South Island more of their freedoms back, shifting them to alert level two from 11:59pm on Tuesday.

“We are making progress but we have some real challenges ahead,” Ms Ardern said.

“Moving to level two is progress and it is positive but it comes with a warning.

“We’re within sight of elimination but we cannot drop the ball.”

The alert level shift means from Wednesday, most businesses will be able to reopen and studying Kiwis will be able to schools and campuses.

However, Ms Ardern has announced toughter rules than applied at previous level two settings.

A mask-wearing mandate will apply to almost all indoor venues, which Ms Ardern says is due to the increased infectiousness of the Delta variant.

Checking in at venues will also become mandatory in an effort to aid contact-tracing in the event of future outbreaks.

A new limit of 50 people will apply to indoor venues in an effort to reduce super-spreading events.

Gyms and other public facilities must also provide spacing of two metres between patrons.

The caseload in Auckland – responsible for 807 of the 821 infections in the outbreak – meant Ms Ardern had already confirmed it would spend at least another week in level four lockdown.

New Zealand’s level four restrictions place 1.7 million Kiwis in harsh lockdown conditions, with no gatherings permitted, very few reasons to leave households and major curbs on business.

Monday’s 20 cases were all identified in Auckland.

There are 40 people with COVID-19 in hospital, and six in intensive care units.

New Zealand’s death toll through the pandemic is 27, after a woman aged in her 90s, died after contracting the virus last weekend.

AAP

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