There are two new cases of Covid-19 and one person has died of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. PM Jacinda Ardern said Microsoft's announcement to build a data centre in New Zealand served as a signal to the world that we are open for business.
There are now zero active Covid-19 cases in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area with 47 out of 47 recovered. How significant a milestone is this and what happens next? Reporter David Beck spoke to some community leaders.
There are currently no active Covid-19 cases in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board area and while community leaders acknowledge it as a significant milestone, there is still work to be done.
All 47 cases in the area have now recovered as of yesterday and there has not been a new case since April 21.
There are now no active cases in the entire Bay of Plenty region as the Lakes District Health Board has reported that all 16 of its cases have also recovered.
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said it was great to have no active cases and no new cases for so long but there must now be more focus placed on getting businesses back up and running.
"One would hope that regions like Bay of Plenty having zero cases would give the Government enough evidence to suggest we have got to get the economy back up and running now because the socio-economic effects of maintaining as we are at level 3 are going to be profound.
"I really do hope the Government adopts a practical approach to this now, adhering to whatever the protocols will be at level 2, but I think it's most important now, especially for our small business owners and the livelihoods created through employment, that we get to level 2 in a big hurry."
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell says it was great to have no active Covid cases but there must now be more focus placed on getting businesses back up and running. Photo / File
Powell said it was important to continue following the health and safety guidelines in place at each alert level.
"I've said a number of times that it really is important we don't oscillate between level 3 and level 4, that would be horrific. So I think it's really important that we do maintain a vigilance but at the same time I think there is an ability for small businesses to start opening up."
He said having regional bubbles, which would allow those with no active cases to move into level 2 sooner than others, was a good idea.
"For a region like Bay of Plenty, which is such a big region, having no active cases and no new cases for 15 days, I would encourage my colleagues - the mayors of the Bay of Plenty towns and cities - to join with me and say 'let's get cracking Government' and let's have a unified voice about opening up the economics of the Bay of Plenty again."
Powell's comments come as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was set to announce today more information on alert level 2. Cabinet was set to meet on Monday to make its decision on whether the country would move from level 3 to level 2 next week.
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley says having no active Covid-19 cases is "a really good achievement for the community". Photo / File
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley agreed that having no active cases was "a really good achievement for the community" but said we must now shift our focus to "our economic crisis".
"We are going to have to support ourselves through what will be quite a tough winter. A lot of our tourism and retailers and accommodation providers rely on a big summer to get through winter. A lot of them have already used a lot of their reserves right at the start of winter.
"We still need to continue to support and have targeted relief which I'll hopefully be asking Minister of Finance Grant Robertson about when we interview him on Friday - exactly what is in mind for a lot of businesses who are really in need."
Cowley said a regional bubble would be hard to enforce and not as much use to Bay of Plenty which relies on spending from other areas.
"Our economy is very much interlinked with Waikato, with a lot of freight moving over the Kaimais. I would much prefer we put our efforts into restarting the economy and providing some targeted relief for those who need it."
Bay of Plenty District Health Board Emergency Operations Centre incident controller Bronwyn Anstis said, "This is a big milestone and a very pleasing result.
"A number of factors have contributed to get us to this point - our health professionals, our emergency workers, our communities and our whānau have all pulled together to look after each other and their work has paid off.
"The challenge now is to make sure we bed-in those gains and don't go backwards. That means staying the course in terms of our bubbles, our distancing and of course hygiene measures like proper cough etiquette and hand-washing."
She said everyone involved with the health board had worked hard to get to this point but could not have done it without the support of the community.
"It's been a huge effort - obviously from frontline staff who are dealing with patients every day and doing everything they can to keep people safe, but also the people behind the scenes.
"We simply could not have achieved this without the goodwill, care and commitment of our communities. From iwi and hapu to businesses, schools and families, our people have been amazing in the way they have looked after each other and themselves. I want to say thank you for those efforts and the kind words of support and encouragement our medical staff have had from the community.
"The hard part is continuing to stay the course even when things have improved. Everything we have done so far has been for each other and we need to stay in that mindset as we look to the weeks ahead," Anstis said.
