· Businesses can restart for staff and customers

· Bubbles can cease

· Domestic travel recommences

· Schools and early learning centres can open

· Gatherings both indoors and outdoors are limited to 100 people

· Public places reopen

· Sport and recreation comes back on-stream, including professional sports competitions

· Home gatherings must be kept small

· Hospitality must follow the three S’s – seated, separated, single-server

Alert Level 2 will see significantly more activity open up across the country requiring New Zealanders to play it safe and remain vigilant so the virus doesn’t bounce back, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.

“Every alert level to fight COVID-19 is its own battle. When you win one, it doesn’t mean the war is over,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“In a nutshell, Level 2 is a safer normal designed to get as many people back to work as possible and the economy back up and running in a safe way, made possible only by our collective actions at Levels 4 and 3 to beat the virus and break the chain of transmission.

“Strong public health measures such as physical distancing, good hygiene and contact tracing will be essential to making Level 2 work.

“There is a much higher level of individual responsibly required at Level 2 to prevent the spread of the virus. Even though the economy will be significantly opened up we still need everyone to remain vigilant and continue to act like you and those around you have the virus.

“On Monday, May 11, we will make a decision on whether to move, taking into consideration the best data and advice we can, recognising the impact of restrictions, and ensuring we don’t put at risk all of the gains we have made.

“We need to balance the risk of the virus bouncing back against the strong desire to get the economy moving again.

“We will continue to act with caution and not move before it is safe to do, so entry into Level 2 could be phased, with higher risk activity occurring when there is stronger evidence it is safe to do so,” Jacinda Ardern said.

More details are at covid19.govt.nz

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