New Zealand on Sunday said that it had been 100 days since the last case of community transmission of Covid-19 was recorded.

“It has been 100 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source,” the country’s Ministry of Health said in an official media release.

New Zealand has so far reported 1,219 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as life in the country is slowly going back to normal.

The Ministry had previously said that its increased emphasis on testing and pop-up testing centres had played a major role in containing the pandemic. On Saturday, 4,249 tests were conducted, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 494,481.

The last case of community transmission in the country was recorded on May 1. Since then, only a couple of travellers had tested positive who had then been traced and isolated as per reports.

However, fearing a second wave, officials have warned the citizens to not get complacent with eased restrictions and to add face masks to their emergency kits.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said, “Achieving 100 days without community transmission is a significant milestone, however, as we all know, we can’t afford to be complacent.”

“We have seen overseas how quickly the virus can re-emerge and spread in places where it was previously under control, and we need to be prepared to quickly stamp out any future cases in New Zealand. Every person in the team of five million has a role to play in this,” he said.

“Seek advice from your GP or Healthline on getting a test if you have symptoms of Covid-19 and stay at home if you are unwell. Keep a record of your movements so you can refer to them for contact tracing if required. Don’t let the team down – none of us can afford to do that,” he said.

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