New Zealand barbers reopen at midnight as country lifts most of lockdown after days without new cases

Ellena Cruse14 May 2020

Barbers in New Zealand reopened at midnight as the country lifted most of its lockdown restrictions after several days without any new Covid-19 cases.

Residents were seen queuing outside hairdressers, shops and restaurants as the nation dropped most of its lockdown measures at 12.01am on Thursday.

The majority of people in the country of five million are returning to their places of work, although most gatherings will be limited to 10 people and social distancing guidelines will remain in place .

Barber Conrad Fitz-Gerald said he’d had about 50 inquiries for midnight haircuts, but limited the initial customers to a dozen, starting with his 18-year-old son.

He planned to then go home and return at 6am for another round of cuts.

People queue for a haircut at a barber shop in Wellington
AFP via Getty Images

“People are saying their hair is out-of-control, they can’t handle it anymore,” he said.

“Lots of parents of teenage kids have been calling up, too, thinking a haircut at midnight would be a great novelty. Unfortunately, we are full up.”

A Barber wearing a face mask works on a customer's hair in Auckland
Getty Images

Mr Fitz-Gerald said he was trying to make sure the virus couldn’t spread in his shop, Cathedral Junction Barbers in Christchurch, and added that he had made his own “supercharged” hand sanitiser from isopropyl alcohol and also had masks available for himself and his customers on request.

Health authorities in New Zealand have recommended that barbers wear masks but haven’t made it mandatory.

Barbers have been fully booked after New Zealand eases its lockdown restrictions
Getty Images

The partial reopening of New Zealand businesses comes after leader Jacinda Ardern said she wanted to eliminate coronavirus. More than 1,400 out of almost 1,500 people infected with the strain have recovered and 21 have died.

The country reported no new cases of the virus on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Most New Zealand schools will reopen on Monday but bars won’t reopen until May 21, a decision that was prompted in part by the experience in South Korea, which has seen a spike in coronavirus cases linked to nightclubs in Seoul.

The nation’s reopening coincides with the release of the government’s annual budget on Thursday afternoon.

Ms Ardern said the country was about to end "a very tough winter".

“But every winter eventually is followed by spring, and if we make the right choices we can get New Zealanders back to work and our economy moving quickly again," she said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in