Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the ministry is confident it has eliminated community transmission.
As Covid-19 spreads around the world, it can be daunting keeping up with the information. For RNZ, our responsibility is to give you verified, up to the minute, trustworthy information to help you make decisions about your lives and your health. We'll also be asking questions of officials and decision makers about how they're responding to the virus. Our aim is to keep you informed.
"At this point we are very confident we have eliminated community transmission in New Zealand," Dr Bloomfield said.
He said the country must keep strong border controls and testing to maintain that.
Dr Bloomfield's comments followed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's announcement at the same briefing that New Zealand would move to alert level 1 at midnight tonight.
It followed the news today that the final remaining active case of Covid-19 had recovered in the past 24 hours, meaning there were no known active cases of infection remaining in New Zealand.
Read back through RNZ's live Covid-19 updates for 8 June:
Read more about the Covid-19 coronavirus:
- See all RNZ Covid-19 news
- A timeline: How the coronavirus started, spread and stalled life in New Zealand
- Covid-19 symptoms: What they are and how they make you feel
- Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop
- Scientific hand-washing advice to avoid infection
- The Coronavirus Podcast
- Coronavirus: A glossary of terms