For 20 consecutive days, New Zealand hasn't recorded any new COVID-19 cases.
The latest breakdown from the Ministry of Health confirms New Zealand hasn't recorded any new cases of the respiratory illness in the last 24 hours. The total number of confirmed and probable cases reported in Aotearoa since the virus' outbreak remains at 1504.
Following the recovery of an Auckland woman on Monday, New Zealand has no known active cases of COVID-19. The death toll sits at 22. No one is in hospital.
On Wednesday, 3350 tests were processed, the highest number since May 28. That also means we have now conducted more than 300,000 tests overall.
The country is currently at alert level 1, the "prepare" stage. This means officials believe the virus is contained in New Zealand but it is uncontrolled overseas. At this level, border measures continue to "minimise the risk of importing COVID-19 cases" as well as intensive testing and rapid tracing.
However, there are no longer restrictions on gatherings, and schools, workplaces and other venues can open. People are asked to keep a record of their movement just in case they are potentially exposed to the virus.
Basic hygiene is also encouraged, such as washing your hands, sneezing into your elbow and staying home if you are feeling sick.
At his final press conference on Tuesday, New Zealand Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said it had been a privilege to do his job.
"I just want to say - I've been doing my job. It's a great privilege to be doing it. We've got a whole health system that I work with many good people on, helping to ensure delivers for New Zealand [sic]. That's where our focus will stay," he said with a smile.
"Life goes on. We're not over this - a big part of our response is maintaining our ability to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic. That's an ongoing effort."
While New Zealand's health response has been widely praised as being successful in crushing COVID-19, the country still faces massive economic consequences arising from the lockdown restrictions and border measures.
