New Zealanders celebrated Christmas on in the warmth of mid-summer with few restrictions, in one of the few countries in the world largely untouched by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, reports AP.

Ninety-five per cent of adults in New Zealand have had at least one dose of the vaccine, making it one of the world's most vaccinated populations. The only Omicron cases that have been found in New Zealand have been safely contained at the border.

As Covid-19 spread around the world in the past two years, New Zealand used its isolation to its advantage. Border controls kept the worst of the virus at bay and by Christmas this year, New Zealand had recorded 50 deaths in a population of 5.5 million.