WELLINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealander Wendell Cook began his work from home as usual on Monday in Wellington, a new normal for him since the country started the battle against the COVID-19 in late March.
The country moved from alert level 4 to 3 last Tuesday and will stay for at least two weeks at Level 3 before a further review and alert level decision on May 11.
For the first time in 49 days, New Zealand reported no new COVID-19 case over the past 24 hours on Monday, with the total number of infections staying at 1,487, and the death toll 20.
Wendell Cook attributed New Zealand's relatively mild COVID-19 situation to "good governance" and "luck," as New Zealand's geographic location is relatively isolated and it has a low population density. The government continues to communicate the situation to the public, releasing information timely to avoid panic.
National unity, trust in the government and the public's active cooperation played an important role in the country's epidemic control, Cook said.
SOCIAL IMPACT
Since the alert level was lowered last Tuesday, those in industries including construction, manufacturing and catering have resumed work, with the vast majority of others still working or studying remotely to avoid social contact.
New Zealand may further lower its alert to level two next week, which will allow all businesses and public facilities to open while maintaining a social distance of one meter.
"I'm still working from home. I haven't been able to see friends and my parents, as they live about an hour north of here by car, so ... I probably can't see them until level two," Cook said.
"The schools have done a pretty good job in organizing classes and materials to be available online. My daughter, a teenager, she's quite independent already and she can study quite well by herself," he added.
"The epidemic is absolutely a tragedy for so many people worldwide and it's not over yet. While some countries like New Zealand have done quite well, in a lot of places they're still dealing with it," Cook said.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Unlike Cook, according to alert level three rules, construction, manufacturing and catering workers can work on site.
On Monday morning, the manager of Chinese restaurant "Hao Yuan" in Wellington who gave his name as Pan, prepared the ingredients for lunch and evening take-out. Catering and tourism are New Zealand's pillar industry and the largest source of employment and foreign exchange.
Pan said that during the national lockdown, the restaurant's income fell sharply, but it still had to pay salaries and other expenses, a major difficulty for the company.
Fortunately, the government has provided wage subsidies for up to three months to industries hit hard by the epidemic. Full-time employees can receive 585.8 NZ dollars (353.7 U.S. dollars) from the government every week.
Under alert level three, the catering industry can do takeout, but people cannot dine in. Pan's restaurant has launched online and telephone ordering, as well as group and network delivery. If the alert level three status is lowered to level two as planned next week, economic activities will be further liberalized, such as allowing dine-in, and the sector will recover quite soon, Pan said.
Economists believe due to New Zealand's low government debt and low interest rates maintained by quantitative easing, it can maintain a stable economic recovery.
Insurance company FM Global named New Zealand as the 12th "most resilient country" in the world in the 2019 Global Resilience Index. FM Global assesses the business environment in 130 countries based on factors such as corporate governance, and risk environment.
