Wellington, South Island on Orange with greater liberties of gathering, movement
Venkat Raman
Auckland, November 29, 2021
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that New Zealand will move into the Traffic Lights System from December 3, 2021 and that Auckland and parts of Northland will be under Red Light, while the whole of the South Island will be under Orange.
None of the areas of the country will be under Green light.
While Auckland, Northland, Taupo and Rotorua Lakes Districts, Kawerau, Whakatane, Opotiki Districts, Gisborne District, Wairoa District, Rangitikei, Whanganui and Ruapehu Districts will move to Red, the rest of the North Island will move to Orange.
Cautious approach to Traffic Lights
Ms Ardern said that her government has taken a cautious approach initially while taking the country to the Traffic Lights System.
“On Friday, December 3, 2021 the traffic lights are turned on for all of New Zealand, as we move forward safely into the next phase of our world-leading Covid-19 response. We have prepared well for this moment by maintaining a cautious approach focused on protecting people and their jobs. Our next phase is focused on minimising the impact of Covid-19 and protecting people. We have vaccinated a significant portion of the team of five million, and now is the time to move to a new framework,” she said.
Ms Ardern said that the country has come through the past two years of Covid in better shape than nearly anywhere in the world, with the lowest case and death rates in the OECD, a growing economy, and among the highest rates of vaccination in the world.
Schools, businesses to open
“We are now in the strongest position to move forward into the next phase. The certainty and stability of the traffic lights replaces the sudden lockdowns and restrictions of Alert Levels. Our schools will stay open at every colour and businesses will have protection through ‘My Vaccine Passes’ to keep operating. Other than the existing Auckland boundary, which lifts on January 17, there will be no new restrictions on travel between regions,” she said.
Following is her Statement:
Vaccinated New Zealanders using vaccine passes will be able to do many of the things that were previously treated as high risk like safely going to bars and restaurants, getting a haircut, and going to a concert or the gym. In Auckland, it means seeing friends and family indoors again.
But there is more to do. There are 160,889 Kiwis due for a second dose – if everyone got it this week we would be at 89.3 per cent fully vaccinated. I encourage those people to get their second dose today to benefit from the full protection of the vaccine, and to be able to get their Vaccine Pass.
The Red Light
Red is the highest level in the new system, which is why Auckland has moved in at Red as the epicentre of the current outbreak, and we’ve taken strong account of vaccination rates and vulnerable populations in the other regions at Red. It provides extra protections against Covid-19 such as requiring both Vaccine Passes and some capacity limits in the most-high risk settings – that’s because if someone has Covid-19, the virus will find it harder to spread among fewer people who are at a distance.
As we see what happens to cases and vaccination levels we can look to move regions down to Orange over time, where there are no gathering limits for those who are using vaccine passes. We are not moving any regions to Green immediately while we continue to get vaccination rates up and transition the country to the new framework. To achieve this, $120 million continues to be distributed to support Maori communities to fast-track vaccination efforts and prepare for the traffic light system.
The Omicron worry
But Covid-19 is still with us, and the emergence of the Omicron variant overseas is a reminder of why we need to maintain a careful approach and keep public health measures in place to protect us. We have been cautious with this initial designation of traffic lights as the new framework beds in. The Cabinet will review settings and provide an update on Monday, December 13, 2021. The next update by Ministers will be on Monday January 17, 2021 and will continue on a fortnightly basis.
