leader of the opposition simon bridges would chair a cross-party committee called the epidemic response committee to scrutinise the government's response to covid-19. two-thirds of members will be from the opposition national and act parties while the remaining third will come from the governing labour, new zealand first, and green parties. known members include new zealand first deputy leader fletcher tabuteau, greens co-leader marama davidson, and act party leader david seymour. that same day, civil defence minister peeni henare declared a national state of emergency for seven days, that was to coincide with the country's entry into lockdown at 11:59 pm. on 26 march, ardern announced that the government would give $27 million to social service providers such as the salvation army and women's refuge to help the vulnerable cope with the lockdown. finance minister robertson also announced that the government had paid $1.5 billion to more than 240,000 workers as part of its wage subsidy scheme in response to the pandemic. on 29 march the new zealand police launched a new online form on their website for people to report covid-19 alert level 4 restriction breaches including isolation breaches and businesses operating illegally. on 31 march the government extended the state of national emergency by seven days, which is separate from the four-week covid-19 alert level 4 lockdown. on 7 april, civil defence minister peeni henare extended the state of emergency by another seven days, until 14 april 2020. april 2020 the queen's message to new zealanders, stating that she is confident kiwis will "rise to the challenge and overcome" the coronavirus pandemic on 1 april 2020 the government set up an infrastructure industry reference group to seek out 'shovel-ready' infrastructure projects to reduce the economic impact of covid-19. local government responded with proposals over the following weeks. other groups, such as the construction industry, greenpeace, and the green party also put forward their preferences. on 5 april, the queen of new zealand addressed the commonwealth in a televised broadcast, in which she asked people to "take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return". she added, "we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again". on 8 april, ardern and education minister chris hipkins announced that the government was introducing a $87.7 million distance learning package including two education television channels hosted by suzy cato, one english and the other māori, improved internet access and devices, and educational materials including online resources for parents, handheld devices, and hard copy packs of material for different year levels. discussions continue on the possibility of using mobile phone apps to trace contacts (and thus track potential virus spread) – as (for example) in singapore. (as of 2015 new zealand had 111.1 mobile connections per 100 citizens, as opposed to singapore's 150.1. population density and geography also differ.) on 8 april, new zealand's ministry of foreign affairs and trade announced providing $4 million worth of funds to help the government tackle the health, economic, and social impacts of the covid-19. it also stated plans of providing $1 million to the tongan ministry of health to help it continue fighting the virus. on 14 april, the new zealand treasury released figures suggesting that the unemployment rate could be kept under 10% if the government provided extra financial support to help society during the lockdown. treasury also projected that the country could experience an unemployment rate of 13.5% if the country remains in lockdown for four weeks. treasury also projected that the unemployment rate could rise between 17.5% and 26% (roughly 750,000) if the lockdown was extended beyond four weeks. finance minister grant robertson has vowed that the government will keep the unemployment rate below 10%. that same day, the civil defence minister peeni henare announced that the government was extending new zealand's national state of emergency for another seven days until 21 april. on 14 april, ardern announced a $130 million support package for tertiary students including increasing the student loan amount for course-related costs for full-time students to $2,000 temporarily, continuing support payments for students unable to study online for up to eight weeks, and making sure that students whose studies have been disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic's eligibility for student loans and fees free study will not be affected. on 15 april, ardern announced that all government ministers and public sector chief executives would take a 20 percent pay cut. opposition leader simon bridges has also confirmed that he will take a 20 percent pay cut. on 16 april, ardern outlined the rules and guidelines for the government's alert level 3. key policies have included allowing people to swim and fish while banning boating; reopening early childhood; and schools up to year 10 on a voluntary basis; easing work restrictions; allowing ten people to attend funerals, weddings, and tangi; and allowing food eateries to provide take away services. in response, the new zealand principals' federation has expressed concern that the level 3 rules for schools would create confusion. on 20 april, ardern extended new zealand's alert level 4 by another week. ardern justified the extension on the basis that new zealand needed to "lock in the gains" made so far in the fight against the coronavirus. the alert level 4 will end at 11:59 pm on 27 april with the country entering into alert level 3 on 28 april for the duration of two weeks. ardern also announced that schools and early childhood centres can prepare to reopen on 29 april with 28 april being designated as a teachers' only day. on 23 april, broadcasting minister kris faafoi announced that the government would be investing $50 million into media relief package to support the new zealand media. this package includes $20.5m to eliminate tv and radio transmission fees for six months; $16.5m to reduce media organisations' contribution fees to new zealand on air for the 2020/21 financial year; $11.1 million in specific targeted assistance to companies; $1.3 million to purchase central government news media subscriptions; and $600,000 to completely cut radio new zealand's am transmission fees for six months. faafoi also confirmed that the proposed radio new zealand and tvnz merger had been delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout. may 2020 on 1 may 2020, the new zealand parliament unanimously passed a $23 billion omnibus tax support package. its provisions include a $3 billion tax relief package for businesses, $25 million for further business support in 2021, a $nz10 billion wage subsidy scheme, $4.27 billion to support 160,000 small businesses, and $1.3 billion for 8,900 medium-sized businesses. on 6 may, ahead of the announcement on 11 may about when the country would move down to alert level 2, ardern gave information on how the country would function at alert level 2, with several changes from the original outline in march. the new level 2 guidelines described "a safer version of normal", with the return of recreational activities and businesses with enforced physical distancing, hygiene and customer registration methods, and no more than 100 people per gathering. on 7 may, sport and recreation minister grant robertson announced that professional sports would be able to resume domestically under alert level 2 if the necessary public health measures were in place. on 11 may, it was announced that new zealand would enter alert level 2 from 11:59 pm on 13 may, lifting lockdown restrictions while maintaining physical distancing in public and for private gatherings with more than ten people. schools could reopen on monday 18 may, while bars (defined as on-licence premises that primarily serve beverages) could reopen on 21 may. the decision of whether to increase the limit of a gathering without physical distancing from ten is set to be made on 25 may. on 13 may, the government passed the covid-19 public health response act 2020 which gives police and other "enforcement officers" the power to enter homes and other premises without a warrant in order to enforce the alert level 2 lockdown. the bill was opposed by the opposition national and act parties, and the human rights commission. on 20 may, the health ministry launched a contact tracing app called nz covid tracer, which is available on app store and google play. the app allows users to scan their qr codes at businesses, public buildings and other organisations to track where they have been for contract tracing purposes. while it was formally launched on 20 may, some people were able to download it on app store on 19 may. during its initial launch, several users encountered difficulties with logging into the app or using it. on 25 may, ardern raised the limits on social gatherings including religious services, weddings, and funerals to 100, which came into effect at 12pm on 29 may 2020. previously, there had been a ten-person limit on religious services and weddings, and a 50-person limit on funerals and tangihanga. ardern also announced that cabinet would consider a decision to move into alert level 1 on 8 june, with 22 june set as the tentative date for moving into alert level 1. that same day, finance minister grant robertson introduced a new 12-week relief payment scheme for new zealand citizens and residents, which comes into effect on 8 june. it will pay $490 per week for those who lost full-time work and $250 for part-time workers including students. on 29 may, ardern announced that the government would be giving the arts and culture sector a multi-million dollar boost in response to the economic impact of covid-19. this includes $25 million for creative new zealand, $1.4m for the antarctic heritage trust, $11.364m to heritage new zealand, $18m for the museum of new zealand te papa tongarewa, $2 million for te papa's hardship fund, $31.8m for ngā taonga sound & vision to preserve its audio and visual collection, $2.03m for the royal new zealand ballet, and $4 million for the $4m for the waitangi national trust board. in may 2020, grant robertson announced $265 million to minimise the impact of covid-19 on sports industry. the minister of finance said that the funding and revenue had drastically fallen for all sports organisations and that they were under “immense strain”. “we are providing the support needed to sports at all levels to remain viable, get stronger and adapt,” his post-budget statement said. june 2020 on 3 june, ardern clarified that alert level 1 would involve the elimination of social distancing restrictions on shops, restaurants, public transportation and public gatherings including religious services, funerals, weddings, and community sports events. however, event organisers would have to ensure contact tracing. ardern also outlined the ten "golden rules" for alert level 1: if you are sick, stay home. if you have cold or flu-like symptoms get tested. wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. sneeze and cough into your elbow and regularly disinfect shared surfaces. if you are told by health authorities to self isolate you must do so immediately. if concerned about your wellbeing or you have underlying health conditions consult with your gp. keep track of where you've been and who you've seen so we can use that for contact tracing if needed. businesses should help with rule seven by displaying a qr code. stay vigilant be kind to others and yourself. that same day, the opposition national party claimed that a leaked cabinet paper suggested that new zealand could move into alert level 1 straight away. the government contended that the paper represented "one strand of decision making" and that any move into alert level 1 was "predicated upon having eliminated chains of transmission and there having been no new cases from community transmission for at least 28 days." on 8 june, ardern announced that new zealand would be entering into alert level 1 at midnight on 9 june after it was reported that the country's last remaining active case had recovered. under alert level 1, there will be no restrictions on daily life, business activities, mass gatherings, and public transportation. however, the country's borders would remain closed to most international travel. on 9 june, director-general of health ashley bloomfield announced that people quarantined at the border would no longer be able to apply for an exemption to attend funerals