Jacinda Ardern, Ashley Bloomfield announce decision on alert levels
From midnight tomorrow, Tamaki Makaurau will remain in Alert Level 3 but Aucklanders be able to connect with people outside their bubble outdoors, with no more than two households and ten people mingling at a time.
Early childhood education will return as normal and people can move around Auckland for recreation, like visiting the beach or hunting.
At the second stage, retail shops can open with face masks and social distancing, public facilities such as pools and zoos will open and number of people who can meet outdoors will increase to 25.
Hospitality venues will open at the third stage, seating people at a distance with a maximum capacity of 50 people.
Public health advice at this stage also indicates schools will be able to return after the school holidays on the 18 October - with a final decision to be made closer to the time.
Cabinet has agreed the rest of New Zealand will remain at Alert Level 2 - with the only change being the 100 person limit in hospitality venues removed.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says as well as the 29 new cases today, there are three other household cases linked to the Raglan case who will be included in tomorrow's number as they were entered into the system after 9am.
Seven of today's cases remain unlinked, and nine of yesterday's new cases remain unlinked.
He says an additional 25-30 more cases are expected from household and other close contacts.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says right at the beginning the government described Delta as a game-changer, "and it has proven to be so. It has been more infectious and more persistent ... what we have called a long tail feels more like a tentacle that has been incredibly hard to shake".
She says restrictions have prevented what could have otherwise been exponential growth in the virus over many weeks.
She says it was the right choice, and the only choice at the time because of the vaccination levels - 42 percent of Aucklanders with one dose and 25 percent fully vaccinated.
In the seven weeks since, those numbers have risen to 84 percent and 52 percent, she says.
"Modelling is also now telling us that while we're still seeing cases, it's now 50 percent less than what we could've seen without vaccinations."
She says the vaccinations mean in future we will not need so many restrictions, but "we're not there yet".
Cabinet has been asking, she says, how to make things a bit easier, and together with the public health team has designed a road map.
Ardern told RNZ this morning Cabinet could consider other options than a level reduction, and has previously signalled a staggered reduction in restrictions, and continued use of a regional border.
The Ministry of Health has also reported 29 new community cases today.
More to come...
From midnight tomorrow, Tamaki Makaurau will remain in Alert Level 3 but Aucklanders be able to connect with people outside their bubble outdoors, with no more than two households and ten people mingling at a time.
Early childhood education will return as normal and people can move around Auckland...
From midnight tomorrow, Tamaki Makaurau will remain in Alert Level 3 but Aucklanders be able to connect with people outside their bubble outdoors, with no more than two households and ten people mingling at a time.
Early childhood education will return as normal and people can move around Auckland for recreation, like visiting the beach or hunting.
At the second stage, retail shops can open with face masks and social distancing, public facilities such as pools and zoos will open and number of people who can meet outdoors will increase to 25.
Hospitality venues will open at the third stage, seating people at a distance with a maximum capacity of 50 people.
Public health advice at this stage also indicates schools will be able to return after the school holidays on the 18 October - with a final decision to be made closer to the time.
Cabinet has agreed the rest of New Zealand will remain at Alert Level 2 - with the only change being the 100 person limit in hospitality venues removed.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says as well as the 29 new cases today, there are three other household cases linked to the Raglan case who will be included in tomorrow's number as they were entered into the system after 9am.
Seven of today's cases remain unlinked, and nine of yesterday's new cases remain unlinked.
He says an additional 25-30 more cases are expected from household and other close contacts.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says right at the beginning the government described Delta as a game-changer, "and it has proven to be so. It has been more infectious and more persistent ... what we have called a long tail feels more like a tentacle that has been incredibly hard to shake".
She says restrictions have prevented what could have otherwise been exponential growth in the virus over many weeks.
She says it was the right choice, and the only choice at the time because of the vaccination levels - 42 percent of Aucklanders with one dose and 25 percent fully vaccinated.
In the seven weeks since, those numbers have risen to 84 percent and 52 percent, she says.
"Modelling is also now telling us that while we're still seeing cases, it's now 50 percent less than what we could've seen without vaccinations."
She says the vaccinations mean in future we will not need so many restrictions, but "we're not there yet".
Cabinet has been asking, she says, how to make things a bit easier, and together with the public health team has designed a road map.
Ardern told RNZ this morning Cabinet could consider other options than a level reduction, and has previously signalled a staggered reduction in restrictions, and continued use of a regional border.
The Ministry of Health has also reported 29 new community cases today.
More to come...
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