The Roxburgh A&P Show and the Octagonal Day bagpiping showcase in Dunedin are among events that can go ahead this weekend under Alert Level 1.
Orientation Week events at the University of Otago can also proceed next week.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday afternoon that this week’s Covid-19 restrictions would be eased from 11.59pm yesterday.
Auckland went from Alert Level 3 to Level 2 and the rest of New Zealand from Level 2 to Level 1.
One result is that a limit on crowd numbers of 100 that applied to most of the country will be lifted.
More than 500 people are expected to attend the Roxburgh A&P Show on Saturday.
Show secretary Dinah Wales said she was delighted the event could run as planned.
"A lot of people are looking forward to coming along."
Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands Otago Centre secretary Maureen Hurrell was "over the moon".
About 400 people will take part in Octagonal Day on Saturday, starting with a march from the town hall from 11am, and the Otago-Southland provincial contest at North Ground on Sunday.
One Orientation event planned for Saturday was cancelled because of a lack of certainty this week, but the programme is mostly unaffected.
Otago University Students’ Association president Michaela Waite-Harvey said small changes might be needed because of restrictions in Auckland.
A Te Kaika health centre spokesman said the Caversham, Dunedin, clinic had been busy with Covid-19 testing, and had swabbed 40 people on Monday and 28 on Tuesday.
"Te Kaika... is able to scale up to 100 per day, while maintaining primary care for existing patients."
WellSouth medical director Dr Stephen Graham said the number of Covid-19 swabs in the South this week had been about double the normal rate.
- Additional reporting by Hamish MacLean and Mike Houlahan
