国际英语资讯:Feature: New Zealand reports no new COVID-19 case as country seeks recovery_时事

国际英语资讯:Feature: New Zealand reports no new COVID-19 case as country seeks recovery

"I'm still working from home. I haven't been able to see friends and my parents, as they live about an hour north of here by car, so ... I probably can't see them until level two," Cook said.

"The schools have done a pretty good job in organizing classes and materials to be available online. My daughter, a teenager, she's quite independent already and she can study quite well by herself," he added.

"The epidemic is absolutely a tragedy for so many people worldwide and it's not over yet. While some countries like New Zealand have done quite well, in a lot of places they're still dealing with it," Cook said.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Unlike Cook, according to alert level three rules, construction, manufacturing and catering workers can work on site.

On Monday morning, the manager of Chinese restaurant "Hao Yuan" in Wellington who gave his name as Pan, prepared the ingredients for lunch and evening take-out. Catering and tourism are New Zealand's pillar industry and the largest source of employment and foreign exchange.

Pan said that during the national lockdown, the restaurant's income fell sharply, but it still had to pay salaries and other expenses, a major difficulty for the company.

Fortunately, the government has provided wage subsidies for up to three months to industries hit hard by the epidemic. Full-time employees can receive 585.8 NZ dollars (353.7 U.S. dollars) from the government every week.