Among the other rules that are deleted are the requirement to wear mouth guards in shops and public transport.
The only major orders that remain are mouth protection for visitors to healthcare and a week’s quarantine for anyone who tests positive for covid-19.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calls this “a milestone” and says the southern hemisphere is now heading for the first summer in three years without gas-hugging uncertainty.
Early in the pandemic, New Zealand managed to shut out the virus with the help of closed borders and tough regulations. But as the disease has become more contagious and milder, the virus has entered at the same time as the measures are still being phased out.