Northland has reached its 10th consecutive day with no new cases of Covid-19, as the country eases into alert level 3 today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the "stay home to save lives" message remained at the new alert level, but it allowed some businesses to reopen under strict health and safety rules and gave people a bit more freedom to do some activities locally - like fishing from a wharf or jetty, golfing, surfing and hunting.
READ MORE:
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Vaccines and treatment are in development - But what is the world's Plan C?
• Covid-19 coronavirus: Healthy young people dying of virus-related strokes
• Covid 19 coronavirus lockdown: 20 essential things to know under alert level 3
• Covid 19 coronavirus: What we know about the 18 deaths
Northland's last new Covid-19 case was reported on April 17.
The region's tally went from 27 to 28 on Anzac Day, but that additional case was a person already confirmed with the illness who had been transferred from Auckland Regional Public Health Service to Northland District Health Board because Northland is their home region.
The patient has now completed quarantine and recovered.
Northland's cases are made up of 26 confirmed and two probable cases. Eight are Māori, 18 are European, and two are listed as "other".
No Northland cases are in hospital, 11 are self-isolating in the community and 17 have now recovered, including five of the eight cases of Māori ethnicity.
Meanwhile, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced yesterday there were five new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, made up of one new confirmed case and one new probable case.
Bloomfield said six of the national cases that were recorded as probable have been reclassified, meaning the national total is 1469.
He said some public health units are reviewing some probable cases and that is why some classifications have changed.
The ministry will continue to do this, he said.
Bloomfield said 1180 people have recovered from Covid-19 - about 80 per cent of the cases in New Zealand.
Seven people are in hospital, he said.
Bloomfield said a woman in her 90s at CHT St Margaret's Hospital in Te Atatu, Auckland, had died, bringing the total number of Covid-19 deaths in New Zealand to 19.
As of 9am Saturday, the total number of tests carried out in Northland was 4062 - 3051 of those at community-based testing centres, the rest across primary care, hospitals and aged residential care.
Nationally about 3000 tests were carried out yesterday, bringing the total to about 123,000.
Bloomfield said he is confident New Zealand can go into level 3 safely.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said people should pause to digest the country's low number of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
She said that without the lockdown there would have been more than 1000 cases a day and this shows why the lockdown was necessary.
"We have avoided the worst," she said.
Ardern said it was tragic New Zealand had lost 19 people.
"We send you our love at our time of loss."
This had been one of the hardest elements of level 4, of people not being able to be with loved ones when they die, she said.
"We must hunt down the last few cases ... this is like a needle in a haystack."
Ardern said level 3 "will not be a return to pre-Covid life" and called on the "team of 5 million" to make sure the country does not have a second wave.
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website