New Zealand to Lift Many COVID-19 Restrictions
Voice of America
New Zealand is easing the coronavirus lockdown for nearly the entire country first imposed last month after the Pacific nation reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case in six months.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that the nationwide alert level will be lowered to Level 2, allowing schools, businesses and offices to reopen. The new orders will not apply to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city and the epicenter of the current outbreak that began when a 58-year-old man tested positive for the delta variant of COVID-19 in mid-August. The nation has posted 821 confirmed COVID-19 cases during the current outbreak, including 20 new cases on Monday. Auckland will remain under strict stay-at-home orders until September 14, keeping all schools, offices and businesses shut down with only essential services remaining operational.
A drone view shows Georgia's parliament building covered with paint and damaged during recent opposition protests against the government's decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union, in Tbilisi, Georgia December 3, 2024.
This handout taken and released on December 4, 2024 by the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) shows a China coast guard ship, right, deploying a water cannon at a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessel.
Charles Chikunda, UNESCO’s officer for climate education in southern Africa, speaks in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 3, 2024. Sosten Chiotha, director of the Leadership for Environment and Development Southern and Eastern Africa, in Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 3, 2024.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and French President Emmanuel Macron review an honor guard during a ceremony in Paris on Nov. 28, 2024, as part of Tinubu's state visit to France.
FILE - A woman walks in front of Chinese stores in Laos' capital, Vientiane, on Oct. 8, 2024.
FILE - People walk in front of a hospital in Congo on Nov. 4, 2021. Up to 143 have died from a mysterious, flu-like disease between Nov. 10 and Nov. 25, 2024, in southwestern Congo, local authorities have reported.
Palestinians walk in a devastated neighborhood due to Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis on Dec. 2, 2024, Palestinians walk in a devastated neighborhood due to Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis on Dec. 2, 2024. Thick smoke rises from explosions as Israeli forces reportedly demolish dwellings in the border town of Khiam in southern Lebanon, on Dec. 1, 2024, days into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, 2nd left, attends trial in an appeal she filed against her death sentence in a financial fraud case in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Dec. 3, 2024.
U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Angolan President Joao Lourenco ahead of their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Luanda on Dec. 3, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden inspects the honor guard with Angolan President Joao Lourenco at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Luanda, on Dec. 3, 2024.
FILE - The benches of a school sit empty in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2022. A Taliban decree that reportedly took effect Dec. 3, 2024, bans medical schools in Afghanistan from admitting female students.
FILE - The United States Steel Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant is in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. FILE - A rally by U.S. Steel employees is held outside the United Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh to display their support for the transaction with Nippon Steel, Sept. 4, 2024.