The Government is making changes to the COVID-19 traffic light settings and is removing vaccine passes and mandates for most workforces from April 4.
Changes to the ‘red level’ setting will be effective from midnight this Friday.
It will see capacity limits removed for all outdoor events and indoor capacity limits for the likes of bars and restaurants doubled from 100 to 200 people.
All restrictions other than mask wearing requirements will be removed at the orange level. At all levels, the testing and seven day isolation requirements remain.
The use of My Vaccine Pass and the requirement to scan in ends on April 4. All vaccine mandates will be removed except for health and disability, aged care, corrections and border workforces.
To date, New Zealand has had more than 500,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and expert modellers say there have probably been 1.7 million actual infections.
That figure, coupled with 95% of Kiwis being fully vaccinated, means there is now a high level of collective immunity.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the changes at the Wednesday press conference and says it’s now safe to ease the restrictions.
“The evidence shows we are coming off the Omicron peak with cases in Auckland having already declined significantly, and a decline expected nationally by early April.
“New Zealanders have worked incredibly hard to get through this pandemic and as a result of those efforts we are now in a position to move forward and change the way we do things,” Ardern says.
“We recognise that some businesses, events or venues may still choose to use vaccine passes, so we will maintain the infrastructure for them.
“Like many other countries we are retaining a small number of mandates targeted at keeping our COVID-19 frontline staff safe and to ensure our most vulnerable, like those in aged care facilities or those with disabilities, are protected from the virus.
“I know for many this part of our defence against COVID-19 was one of the hardest. But mandates meant we reached the levels of vaccination needed to prevent the devastating outbreaks seen across the world.
“We’ve also used the evidence gathered over the last few months on Omicron to make changes to the red and orange settings,” Ardern says.
“We are keeping the traffic light framework in order to offer ongoing protections in the event of a new variant or in cases of future surges, but our plan is to move down to orange and then ultimately green once it is safe to do so.”
