Separated lovers of New Zealand are just days away from emotional reunifications at the end of a month-long "bonk ban".
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Barring an upswing of new COVID-19 cases in the new few days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will on Monday decide to lower New Zealand's lockdown from level four to level three.
That will means the return of many workers to their workplaces, provided they can do their jobs safely.
It means schools are back in session.
Restaurants will be able to open once more, for delivery or drive-through services only.
And, most importantly for loved-up Kiwis who live apart, it will mean they can see each other again.
New Zealand's severe coronavirus clampdown, which enters day 22 on Friday, includes restrictions on socialising between households, even between partners.
Ms Ardern has stressed the importance of keeping to one's "bubble" as the key tenet of NZ's social distancing regime.
When New Zealand enters level three, Ms Ardern said Kiwis "could expand your bubble a small amount".
"If you have a caregiver that you need in your life, children who might be in a shared care arrangement, a de facto partner who is caring for others, or you're a single person who wants the company of a sibling, for example, you can extend your bubble."
The prime minister's office then clarified the bubbles could extend to partners living under different roofs under strict terms.
"You need to remain exclusive to the person ... it needs to be local and needs to be small," a spokesperson told AAP.
That's bad news for the polyamorous and promiscuous, but it's also unclear whether police have enforced the bonk ban by stopping any Kiwis in the name of love.
Of hundreds of breach notices, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said he wasn't aware of any issued to lovers breaking the rules.
One Australian state, Victoria, included a similar bonk ban in its regulations, only for the Chief Medical Officer to declare he wasn't interested in enforcing the rule.
Kiwi health officials announced just 15 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, down from a one-day peak of 89 earlier this month.
Australian Associated Press
