Auckland imposed a week-long exclusion after a community group of the more contagious British coronavirus variant.
No new local Covid-19 cases were recorded on Sunday, health officials said, easing the restrictions. If no community affairs are confirmed during the rest of Sunday, it will take seven days since the last community affair.
However, there are still nearly two million public gatherings in the city, and masks are mandatory for public transportation.
Footage on TVNZ showed people going to queue at coffee shops on Sunday morning, while many people say they feel relieved.
The government said it could further ease restrictions in Auckland on Friday to bring it to the same level as in the rest of New Zealand.
The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Friday that she stands by New Zealand’s decision to pursue an elimination strategy, but acknowledges that it has costs, from job losses to cancellations at school camps.
She said the government was right to impose the seven-day exclusion only a few weeks after three days of restrictions were lifted, due to the more transferable and unpredictable nature of the British variant.
“Level three provided us with an extra layer of security while addressing the unknowns and reducing the risk,” she said.
Rule that broke below level three, and which contributed to dispersal in the Auckland group at the end of February, was a flashpoint for criticism – and called on the government to do more in terms of community outreach.
Ardern said she does not believe anyone who violates the restrictions at level three is deliberately doing wrong, but that she has seen no benefit in continuing a ‘back-and-forth’ over individual cases over the past week.
Rapid public health measures combined with aggressive contact detection, border closure and compulsory quarantine for travelers, it is acknowledged that both New Zealand and Australia were very successful in spreading the pandemic.
Both countries quickly recovered in their second economy in their second economy. New Zealand has reported just over 2,000 cases of coronavirus and 26 deaths since the start of the pandemic.