Coronavirus: New Zealand and Australia start 'relaxing' lockdown rules

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Image caption, Teacher Allie Stucke writes instructions on the white board for the small number of students returning to her school in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday

New Zealand has started to relax some of its lockdown rules, which were put in place to fight the spread of coronavirus.

Lowering its alert level means that some non-essential business, healthcare and schools were able to open on Tuesday morning.

Some schools and childcare facilities opened and around 400,000 adults headed back to work - people are also allowed to get takeaway food again.

New Zealand has reported fewer than 1,500 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus, after the country managed to contain the virus early on.

New Zealand's slightly less strict lockdown

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Image caption, New Zealand's prime minister warned that the country had not completely won the battle against the virus yet

Here's what's changing in New Zealand, now the country has shifted one step down from its highest alert level.

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Cars line up at a McDonald's drive-through in Auckland, New Zealand, as people are allowed to get takeaway food again

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has warned that despite the gradual lifting of the lockdown, New Zealand was not "out of the woods".

She urged people to continue to stay at home, and work from home where possible, warning that "no one wants a second wave" of the pandemic.

What's happening in Australia?

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Image caption, Young surfers carry their boards on Bondi Beach after it reopened following a five week closure in Sydney

Australia says it had only 12 new cases of the virus in the past day - with only one coming from an "unknown source".

As the country seeks to move into a new phase, more than 2.4 million people have downloaded a special app to help track where the virus has been found.

In Sydney, Australia's largest city, isolation rules will be relaxed from the end of the week to allow households to have two visitors at a time.

With the area now reporting just small daily increases in cases, officials say visits can be made for mental health and social reasons - meaning people will be able to visit family and friends again.

Image source, EPA

Image caption, Council guards still patrolled the surf and people had to follow a red-tape marked path to the water before leaving through signed exits

Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, and two neighbouring beaches, also reopened on Tuesday delighting the people who live nearby.

Swimmers and surfers were there from the early morning to dive into the ocean after a five-week ban.

However, no activities on the sand (like volleyball for instance) are allowed - and the beach will remain closed on weekends to avoid big crowds.