Coronavirus New Zealand: Parents drop off children at ‘kiss and go’ zones outside schools

Schools have reopened following an eight-week shutdown

Parents are dropping off their children in schools in New Zealand at designated “kiss and go” zones to help with social distancing measures.

Children from across the country returned to school on Monday following a two-month shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Young students from major cities such as Auckland and Wellington arrived at the school gates to greet their friends for the first time in eight weeks.

Schools reopened after the government dropped the country’s coronavirus alert system dropped down to “Level 2” earlier this month, and officials have been encouraging parents to send their children back to school.

“Our message is it’s safe to send kids back to school, we want kids back at school and catching up with any learning that they’ve lost during the lockdown,” education minister Chris Hipkins told reporters on Monday.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been widely praised for her handling of the pandemic.

As of Tuesday, the country had recorded just 21 Covid-19 related death, with a further 1,500 confirmed cases, according to official figures.

As a result, lockdown restrictions have been eased following an eight-week shutdown.

Late last month, Ardern declared that New Zealand had beaten the virus by adopting a “go hard and go early” but warned against complacency in the coming weeks.

“There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle. But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way,” she said.