Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed the government plans to allow gatherings of up to 100 from midday on Friday,
29 May.
Watch the media briefing here:
She said it took about two weeks before the effects of changes in restrictions were seen, and New Zealand had been able
to avoid a second wave of infection.
"We can now be highly confident, more than three weeks after the shift to level 3, that there are no new cases
attributable to the more relaxed restrictions which we had as we stepped down into level 3 and started moving beyond
that."
"On the basis of this good news, Cabinet has decided we can now increase the size of all gatherings to 100 from 12 noon
this Friday."
"The shift to 100 means many more gatherings will be able to occur from now on. These changes are good news for business
and those looking to plan gatherings."
Ardern said hospitality venues would still need to follow other restrictions.
She said Dr Bloomfield and the ministry of health had advised the move to gatherings of 100.
Dr Bloomfield said the initial plan was always for groups of 100, and while authorities initially decided to limit
groups to 10, they now felt that smaller limit could be removed.
Ardern said Cabinet would check in on alert level 2 settings again on 8 June and no later than 22 June would consider
the move to alert level 1.
Ardern has previously said rules would be reassessed every two weeks, to match up with Covid-19's cycles of infection.
She said she would be holding a meeting with the Prime Minister of Singapore on Wednesday, to mark the one-year
anniversary of the "enhanced partnership" between the two countries.
There were no confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported today for the third day in a row.
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