New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern "did a little dance" of joy with her daughter Neve yesterday when she learned the country was COVID-19 free.
On Monday, health authorities reported the recovery of NZ's last confirmed case, and no new cases for the 17th straight day.
Ms Ardern abolished all coronavirus-related restrictions, aside from strict border controls.
Almost 300,000 tests have been carried out in New Zealand, where 1504 have contracted the virus and 22 have died.
In the US, New York City workers who've been staying home for months have begun to return to work as the city begins Phase One of its economic recovery.
Nearly 22,000 residents have died after contracting coronavirus.
By far the hardest-hit US city, New York reported the rate of people testing positive fell to a new low of three per cent on Monday, well below its threshold for reopening of 15 per cent.
Some 400,000 workers head back to 32,000 construction sites, wholesale and manufacturing centres and some retail sites across the city.
Mayor Bill de Blasio urged workers to wear face masks and use social distancing to keep cases on a downward trend.
Indonesia's capital is also easing restrictions, despite the country posting its biggest daily spike in infections just two days earlier.
Restaurants, shops and transport services are running and offices in Jakarta are opening with limits on employee numbers.
But Indonesia remains the worst-hit country in East Asia outside China, with 32,033 confirmed cases and 1883 deaths.
India is also lifting restrictions on public places, despite a record number of infections being recorded in a single day.
AAP reports after imposing a severe lockdown in March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is under pressure to fully open the economy.
It ordered shopping centres, places of worship and restaurants to open under guidelines meant to stop a surge of infections.
India's total number of coronavirus cases has reached 256,611, after a record one-day jump of 9983 infections.
Globally there are more than seven million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 404,360 deaths according to John Hopkins University.
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