Fiji has reopened its international borders after Covid-19 closed them more than 18 months ago.
From today, only fully vaccinated diplomats, returning Fijian residents, permit holders and those approved by the Covid-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce will be allowed in.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said fully vaccinated tourists from travel partners including New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the United States can enter Fiji from 1 December.
Nadi International Airport in Fiji. Photo: Supplied/Fiji Airports
Fiji’s Health Ministry said the quarantine protocols to support international travel have been “adjusted to take into account the increasing protection gained by having fully vaccinated persons travelling with other vaccinated persons to highly vaccinated destinations.”
“This will involve less stringent conditions with more priority given to the testing protocols that ensure early identification and isolation of positive travellers,” said Health Secretary James Fong.
“From the 11th of November, we will be transitioning Border Quarantine Protocols to Border Risk Reduction Protocol for all travellers coming in from Travel Partner Countries.
“This will involve a three-day stay in a hotel with a test to be done on day 2. A negative result will allow for discharge into the community on day 3.
“From the 11th of November, incoming travel will be restricted to diplomats, returning residents, permit holders and those approved by the Covid-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce.
“Our Border Risk Reduction Protocol Processes will be trailed during this time and further refined in preparation for December 1st when tourists can start arriving in Fiji,” Dr Fong said.
Approvals to home quarantine will be extremely limited during this pilot phase, he said.
Dr Fong said changes to domestic travel quarantine protocols will be announced on Friday once the vaccination coverage data in Vanua Levu and some of the maritime islands are received by the ministry.
Four more deaths
Four people have died from Covid-19 in Fiji and there are 58 new cases reported since Tuesday.
This brings the total number of active cases to 813 while the death toll is now at 679.
The four victims were aged between 50 and 75, with three of them dying at home and one at a hospital.
“We have also recorded 578 Covid positive patients who died from serious medical conditions they had before they contracted Covid-19; these are not classified as Covid deaths,” said Dr Fong.
There were 52,285 cases since the April outbreak this year, with 52,356 cases since the pandemic started in March last year, he said.
Dr Fong also said 88.7 percent or 548,456 of the adult population were fully vaccinated and 22,117 children aged 15-17 got both jabs.
“With borders opening, we anticipate our testing numbers to increase from local and international repatriates as well as visitors entering the country.”
By Paul Heyward of ‘The Conversation’. Republished with permission
The news that all staff members at a small King Country school were still unvaccinated a week out from the government’s November 15 mandatory deadline underlines how challenging the weeks ahead might be.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Next Monday marks the day teachers will need to have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine if they want to continue to work with students in a face-to-face learning environment.
It will also be the day educational leaders find out with some certainty who their vaccine-hesitant colleagues are, and when the career pathways of many committed educators will come to a crossroads.
With it looking likely some schools will face significant staff shortages, the teaching profession now has to seriously wrestle with how to demonstrate the value of manaakitanga to all colleagues, including the unvaccinated.
The code of responsibility
As a fully registered teacher (as well as an academic) I will be free to teach in New Zealand schools, alert levels allowing, because I am double vaccinated. But I know that is not the case for some of my very talented and committed colleagues who have refused the Pfizer jab.
I can only imagine the professional identity crises these colleagues must be experiencing.
I’m thinking of those teachers who sincerely believe they are honouring their commitment to society – espoused in the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (TCANZ) Code of Professional Responsibility – by standing up for the human rights of New Zealanders to bodily autonomy.
I’m thinking of those teachers who passionately believe they are honouring their commitment to society by displaying the ethical integrity to stand up to a power they believe is misleading the public.
I’m thinking of those teachers who believe they are “walking the talk” of a critically reflective practitioner by refusing to be vaccinated.
And I’m thinking of my own commitment to those teachers as my professional colleagues, notwithstanding my fundamental disagreement with their anti-vaccination beliefs.
Teaching as an ethical activity
The TCANZ guiding document for teachers – Our Code, Our Standards – outlines the ethical commitments of all teachers. The council recognises that for the code to be “owned”, the professional commitments should not be seen as a list of prescribed rules.
Rather, it is a set of agreed aspirations that encourage collaborative conversations between practitioners about the ethical nature of their work.
There is no doubt the vaccine mandate will demand some of the most ethically challenging conversations teachers from both vaccination camps will have in their professional careers.
However, that’s no reason to shy away from collegial awkwardness. One of New Zealand’s pre-eminent educational thinkers, the late Ivan Snook, believed teaching is an innately ethical activity as it involves close personal relationships, not least between colleagues.
Snook also provides us with some wise guidance on how we might go about these challenging discussions. He addresses the fundamental tension teachers face when trying to persuade others to take a on a point of view they believe is demonstrably rational.
Snook frames this tension as the “conflicting obligations to respect the learner’s state of mind and also move her towards a more adequate understanding and a more enlightened practice”.
An ethic of care
As colleagues in discussion with those who disagree with us on the vaccine mandate, we must be ready to respect the ethical integrity of alternative viewpoints, while providing rational alternatives based on reputable scientific evidence.
Nor should we decry those who distrust authority. As Snook argues, a major task of educators is to help others come to understand the importance, and limitations, of all authorities.
It is my hope that over the next few months we will see the code truly become “our code” as it guides vaccinated and unvaccinated teachers to have these respectful conversations about what it is to be a critically reflective, ethical teacher in a society in the grip of a global pandemic.
But if the code is to guide teachers through these difficult conversations it needs to be used with care. If it’s simply a weapon of entrenched positions there is nothing to be gained.
Educational philosopher Nel Noddings said conversations of this complexity need to happen within an “ethic of care” that is sensitive to the relationships in which we must all continue to live.
In the spirit of whanaungatanga, I encourage my vaccinated and unvaccinated colleagues to be courageous and use the code to discuss the vaccine mandate within such an ethic of care.
Let us decide together what that is, and what it means to be an ethical teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand in this watershed moment for our profession.
*Paul Heyward is Head of Initial Teacher Education, University of Auckland. Disclosure statement: I have publicly commented on the development and implementation of the Teaching Council Document ‘Our Codes, Our Standards’ in the media.
The principal of a New Plymouth school which has lost three staff members in a horror crash in Horowhenua says the community is reeling at the news.
Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly
Four people died when a truck and another vehicle collided at Kuku on State Highway 1 just after 3pm Tuesday.
Devon Intermediate principal Jenny Gellen said the school’s caretaker, a teacher aide and a classroom teacher had died in the accident.
“Staff and students and the wider Devon whānau are absolutely shocked.”
Gellen said the three staff members were integral parts of the school community.
“They’re just extremely valued and important members of staff who are going to be really sadly missed by not only at the school community but the whānau, extended whanau and our school community.”
Gellen said the school was getting support from the Ministry of Education trauma team and would stay open today.
“Absolutely we are. We are a community school and it’s an awesome place to actually have our kids supported and our whānau supported at the school.
“This is the kids’ normal and it’s about the kids and the whānau and if we close the children have nowhere to express [their feelings] other than their families – which are really important — but we’re keeping the school open.”
Gellen said the wider Taranaki community had been generous in their support.
“We’ve been inundated with messages and letters of support so just a huge thank you at this really difficult time for the school.”
New Plymouth Principals’ Association co-chair Brigitte Luke said the whole education community was affected by the deaths.
“We’re shocked and deeply saddened and our thoughts go out to the respective whānau at such a tragic time and obviously the school that’s dealing with this.”
She said the impact at Devon Intermediate would be immense.
“Well it’s huge … because it is the sudden loss of three staff members within a school setting in terms of the children, the staff and the wider … it’ll be huge.
“The priority will be ensuring the safety and well being of all mentally and emotionally and spiritually at this point of time.”
Police earlier confirmed the four deaths, and said officers had contacted next of kin.
Officers investigating the crash want to hear from any witnesses, and in particular from anyone on the road at the time who may have dashcam footage.
Central District road policing manager Inspector Ashley Gurney was at the site on Tuesday and described it as a complex and challenging scene.
State Highway 1 was closed in both directions for several hours after the crash.
Horowhenua Mayor Bernie Wanden said the stretch of State Highway 1 between Levin and Ōtaki was a risky and dangerous road that had been the site of numerous accidents.
He said the section of road combined open stretches with bends and bridges that catch drivers out.
Waka Kotahi said it had has planned a number of safety improvements for the stretch of SH1, including wide centre lines, stretches of side barriers and a review of speeds.
Work was scheduled to begin on this in mid-2022, but the transport agency was looking at bringing that forward.
There have been 147 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the community today – including 14 in Waikato – with another death of someone with Covid-19 who was isolating at home.
Photo: AFP
The Ministry of Health said 63 of today’s cases are yet to be linked. The suburbs of interest in Auckland are Ranui, Sunnyvale, Kelston, Birkdale, Manurewa and Māngere.
At today’s Covid-19 briefing, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield reported the sudden death of a man in his 60s who had Covid-19 and was isolating at a home in Glen Eden.
“The cause of his death will be determined by the coroner, including whether it may have been Covid-19 related.
“This is a sad reminder that Covid-19 is potentially very serious – and fatal – if you’re not vaccinated.”
He said any Covid-19 deaths would be looked into fully, whether they happened in a hospital or at home.
“We’re looking back at each of these deaths to see what was the level of interaction, exactly what happened in those cases, was there any problem with the clinical assessment and also the clinical handover – there’s nothing to suggest so yet and the third one which came in overnight, we don’t have detail on but we’ll look at any opportunity to improve both the initial assessment and the allocation of someone, but also how the system is working.”
He said pulse oximeters were also being used to monitor those who might need more help “because some people can deteriorate quite quickly even if they have a history of being well”.
Of the 14 new cases in Waikato being reported today, 10 are from Ôtorohanga – including six people in one household who are known contacts – three from Hamilton and one from Ngâruawâhia.
There were also two new cases to report in Northland, both in the same household in Dargaville, with links to known cases.
“One of the cases is a child, which highlights the importance of getting vaccinated to protect our tamariki who aren’t yet eligible to get the vaccine. The more of us who are vaccinated in our community, the greater our immunity.”
There are 81 people with Covid-19 in hospital, including 11 in intensive care.
Dr Bloomfield said there were more than 1700 hospital beds across Auckland and more than 100 ICU beds.
“Hospitals in Auckland will have and do have capacity – so anyone who needs care for any reason, do not delay in seeking it. The hospitals are safe.”
There were also two cases reported in managed isolation today.
There have been 4813 cases in the current community outbreak and 7561 since the pandemic began. The seven-day rolling average of community cases is 154.
There were 22,178 Covid-19 vaccine doses given yesterday, made up of 5,103 first doses and 16,089 second doses. The Ministry said 89 percent of New Zealanders aged over 12 years have had their first dose and 79 percent are fully vaccinated.
On Tuesday there were 125 new community cases, and of those 117 were in Auckland, two were in Waikato and six in Northland.
Dr Bloomfield also said today the Ministry was changing the way Covid-19 deaths would be reported.
“The clinical criteria will continue to be guided by WHO definition which is basically to report any death where the person had an acute Covid-19 infection regardless of what the cause of death might be.
“We will be now publicly reporting confirmed deaths as those where the death documents or an investigation has shown that the cause was Covid-19 and we will report other deaths where the cause of death is not certain but the person has Covid-19. We will report them separately, and the latter group will be classified as ‘under investigation’ while we await further information from clinicians or a coroner’s follow up.”
The mood within the country, however, is very different. No doubt there is abundant fear, but this has centred on the vaccine itself.
Many Papua New Guineans have access to the vaccine, even in some of the remotest corners of the country. They are also fully familiar with injected medicines and vaccinations against diseases like polio and measles.
But millions of Papua New Guineans are not getting vaccinated against Covid because they are terrified of this specific vaccine. This is not “vaccine hesitancy”, but full-blown opposition, a genuine antipathy.
So, why is there such a fierce resistance to the Covid vaccine? The key difference, as any good anthropologist will tell you, is cultural context.
Spiritual sickness
Any attempt to understand local views on the Covid vaccine must first appreciate that, within Melanesian societies, physicality is intimately connected to morality and spirituality. Because of this, biomedical explanations for disease are usually secondary to other causes or irrelevant.
This is mainly due to the small, sometimes non-existent role played by government education in the lives of most Papua New Guineans, especially the roughly 80 percent that live in rural villages.
For example, should an otherwise healthy person suddenly become ill and die, sorcery or witchcraft may be deemed the cause. Accusations are linked to interpersonal conflicts and jealousies that may have precipitated the mystical assault.
Such interpretations usually occur with individual misfortunes – not much larger events like a global pandemic. This is where Christianity becomes hugely important, making sense of broader problems like this.
The role of Christianity
Nearly all Papua New Guineans (99.2 percent) are Christian. And the religious landscape in the country is powerfully influenced by Pentecostal and evangelical churches.
In PNG, Christianity provides not only the promise of eternal salvation, but biblically inscribed frameworks and prophetic ideas that inform how people live and view the world around them.
Many Christians, especially those believing in the Pentecostal and evangelical traditions, have a strong interest in the end of the world, as this signals the return of Jesus Christ.
Crucially, the imminent return of Christ is heralded by the world’s rapid moral decline and humanity being branded with the mark of the beast – a process mandated by Satan. As such, many Papua New Guinea Christians continuously and fearfully scan the horizon for this definitive sign.
Photo: Supplied/ PNG Department of Health
Years ago, some Papua New Guinean friends declared barcodes were the mark. More recently, they insisted it was the government’s national ID card initiative. Now, in a completely different order of magnitude and intensity, it is the Covid vaccine.
As one group protesting a vaccine drive recently chanted, “Karim 666 chip goh!”, or “Get out of here with Satan’s microchip”.
From this perspective, the vaccine is a vehicle for much larger forces of global and cosmic tyranny. The speed with which the vaccine was developed, its global reach, and the apparent coercion of vaccine mandates all further strengthen suspicions of its evil origins.
However, Christianity is not the sole factor spurring anti-vaccination sentiment. Indeed, powerful misinformation on social media has also been influential, such as rumours the vaccine carries a microchip or commonly causes death. People also have a well-founded distrust of outsiders, and they view both the virus and vaccine as foreign assaults on PNG’s sovereignty.
In the absence of Western biomedical knowledge or a lack of faith in its validity, these theories flourish. Those with more sustained exposure to Western culture often try in vain to convince their compatriots against this kind of thinking.
Alternative treatments
While defiantly resisting vaccination, many Papua New Guineans nonetheless acknowledge Covid-19 is real and that it causes sickness.
With infection rates, hospital admissions, and deaths now surging, it would be hard to ignore this reality. The rising Covid-19 mortality across the country has scared some into receiving the vaccine, but even those open to vaccination are easily spooked by rumours of subsequent death.
In the absence of vaccinations, Papua New Guineans have turned to three main methods of treatment: prayer and healing, organic remedies, and reliance on a claimed strong natural immunity to disease.
As Christians strongly influenced by the evangelical and Pentecostal traditions, many people pray to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to not just mitigate, but annihilate, the evil sickness.
In addition, many are turning to organic traditional remedies to ward off illness. This mainly consists of spices and leaves used in drinks and steaming.
Finally, there is a strongly held belief that Papua New Guineans possess an intrinsically strong immune system, buttressed by a diet of garden food, which makes them more resistant to the incursion of the Covid virus.
What can the authorities do?
For most westerners, vaccines are an obvious and intrinsic good. For many Papua New Guineans, vaccines are a dangerous, unknown, and sinister threat. This is due to a combination of forces – governmental neglect, strong religiosity, and a justified distrust of outsiders.
This local position needs to be very sensitively understood and respected, not dismissed or criticised.
At the same time, deaths must be prevented and the thick fog of opposition surrounding the vaccine must be dissipated. But how?
Detailed information about the vaccine, including its creation, contents, efficacy, and potential side effects, must be made fully known to people before asking them to be vaccinated. Insisting a population with minimal information be vaccinated is not ethical or fair.
Likely in response to the widespread apocalyptic interpretations of the vaccine, the PNG Council of Churches is now actively promoting its safety and benefits. The government also needs to step up its efforts and commit to a nationwide educational campaign if hopes for substantial vaccine uptake are ever to be realised.
The success of the whole endeavour – and steering Papua New Guinea away from a public health catastrophe – will likely turn on persuading ordinary people the vaccine is a divine blessing and not a Satanic curse.
* Fraser Macdonald is a senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of Waikato
Aucklanders have been all but promised more freedoms from the end of the month, with a move to the new traffic light system.
The Covid-19 Protection Framework starts with ‘red’ when retail opens with capacity limits based on 1 metre distancing. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The region is ticking off two milestones this week, with 90 percent in all its DHBs having had their first dose of the vaccine, and a moves to level 3 step 2 from midnight.
Many cafes have remained closed during Auckland’s lockdown, including Remedy Coffee opposite the Civic Theatre on Wellesley Street.
O’Hanlon said he would re-open this week for takeaways but was banking on being able to welcome customers back to tables from December.
“There’s only so much turnover you’re going to get, the city’s a ghost town at the moment. I can’t see too many more people coming back to the CBD just because the shops are open, maybe at the weekend but not during the week.
“I think people will be hesitant until – fingers crossed – the first of December reopening day when the vaccines are in place and everyone’s on board.”
Under the traffic light system, even at the most restrictive ‘red’ level, hospitality and other businesses can open with vaccine certificates, number limits and distancing. For the unvaccinated though, heavy restrictions remain.
Auckland hairdresser Simone Jones is on the board of Hair and Barber and said there was some uncertainty in the leap into the new system.
“To go from nothing to the red light system in a day is not going to give us enough time.
“I’ve had salon owners calling me today to say ‘what should we do, should we start booking our clients in from the first of December or should we do it from the end of November what do you think?’ And I really don’t know.”
“It sounds really stupid but a day makes a huge difference to us.”
Auckland resident Rose, a hospitality worker, is hoping for the new eased restrictions.
“It definitely feels like we are ready for it and it means the businesses can prepare for the opening. It gives us a little bit of a push to get ready.”
For another Auckland resident, Michael, now was the time to “wind back the extreme measures” given the high vaccination rate.
Business is not expected to pick up in the city until thousands of office workers and domestic travellers return, which could be next year.
Photo: RNZ / Vinay Ranchhod
Auckland business association Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said a move to red was unlikely to bring people back in droves, and it would not be until the traffic light system reached green that things would really change.
“We’re hoping to get from, say, $3.5 million revenue a week to $10m – that would be a step up. But that’s still around 60 percent down on our normal level so that’s a big impact.”
Beck wanted clarity on how the period in ‘red’ would be managed; on support for businesses, plans to re-activate the city, and what would happen with MIQ and the border domestically and internationally.
“Businesses will need that because it’s going to be a long haul for them.”
By Rowan Quinn of RNZ.co.nz. Republished with permission.
The government is being urged to put the brakes on letting Aucklanders hit the shops this week, as case numbers soar.
It will confirm after its Cabinet meeting today whether to go ahead as planned and allow shops to open and increase the outdoor gathering limit to 25.
But with 319 new cases over the weekend, and more than 1000 in the past seven days, health experts fear daily numbers cases could hit 1000 a day by Christmas if the spread is allowed to escalate further.
Public health lecturer Collin Tukuitonga said it was not the right time to ease restrictions.
“The outbreak could explode and spin out of control,” he said.
Covid modeller Shaun Hendy agreed, saying the virus was outpacing the vaccinations designed to slow it down.
The gains from the roll-out were being eaten away at by the loosening of restrictions – and possibly by a lack of compliance from some lockdown-weary Aucklanders, he said.
It was possible, with fewer restrictions, for daily case numbers to keep doubling every fortnight or so, getting to four figures in December.
But modelling was difficult with so many factors and it was possible the outbreak could peak as early as two weeks’ time if there were tight controls, he said.
A loosening of restrictions would mean more cases and more serious illness – there were already a record 74 people in hospital.
“We’re starting to get to the point where we will be putting severe strain on hospital beds and staffing capacity so we do need to put the breaks on at this point and have a rethink or we could be facing a much worse scenario,” he said.
All the experts said they understood Aucklanders were over it and that put the government in a tricky situation.
Public health lecturer Collin Tukuitonga says the outbreak could ‘spin out of control’ if restrictions are eased Photo: supplied by University of Auckland
The National Māori Pandemic group Te Rōpu Whakakaupapa Urutā co-leader Sue Crengle said the government brought in level 3 too early and should avoid the same mistake.
“Being in lockdown is hard and so people are getting weary of it. We understand that there are those other political considerations that the government has to take into account but we still think we need to stick to the science – just for a little bit longer,” she said.
The Urutā group had wanted level 4 in place for longer, hoping to avoid more cases and a drawn out lockdown.
Māori now made up about half of all cases.
Coupled with low vaccination rates, they were now the most vulnerable to getting sick if the current controls were loosened, she said.
Just a few more weeks were needed to improve Māori immunisation, with Māori-led vaccinators catching up fast, she said.
Ministry of Health figures showed signs the system was already under strain.
The vast majority of the 2564 people currently with Covid were at home – only 401 were either in quarantine or hospital.
But the ministry said it was supporting only 816 of them to isolate at home – leaving a question mark over who was overseeing more than 1300 others.
Dr Tukuitonga said so many self-isolating people was risky for the patients in terms of making sure everyone got good care, but also for their families who could catch the virus.
And there was the added risk that some people may not understand or follow the self isolation rules, he said.
Experts said if Māori rates were lifted, and restrictions stayed in place a little longer, that would allow the roll-out to have the best chance to cut cases and save lives.
By Louise Ternouth of RNZ.co.nz. Republished with permission.
First doses in the Counties Manukau DHB ticked over to 90 percent yesterday – joining the other two Auckland DHBs.
Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
If all return for their second jab, in three weeks Auckland could move to the new traffic light system and the freedoms that come with it, just in time for the Prime Minister’s planned check-in on the cities vaccine rates.
But getting Counties Manukau DHB to 90 percent first doses had not been easy.
Manurewa Papakura ward Councillor Daniel Newman has being going door to door getting people on board.
The first jab was just the first hurdle, he said.
“We’ve got nearly 10 percent of our population have got a first jab, but are yet to get the second dose. That is nearly 50,000 people in Counties Manukau. That is a huge challenge. We’ve got a long, long way to go.”
He would be back knocking on doors to make sure people return for the second.
“We’re having to being on the same doors several times over and that will continue for as long as it takes to get people to the point where we have good protection against Covid-19.”
Newman told Checkpoint more vaccine events were needed.
That was echoed by the CEO of South Seas healthcare Lemalu Silao Vaisola-Sefo, who said it would be more work for their South Auckland community to reach the 90 percent double dose target.
“It’s getting harder to you know, just to put up a pop up in and for people to expect people to come through. So we reached out to our church ministers and co-ordinators from churches, and they just they organise their own people so they reach out to their groups, youth and you know, make it a bit more of a competition amongst churches in sports clubs.”
That worked in the past with drive through events like Rally Your Village giving out over 7000 vaccines over five days in October.
Lemalu said it was important to make it less about the vaccine and provide incentives for people to come through.
But he was less worried about the general population in Auckland reaching 90 percent double dosed and more worried about pasifika rates which are sitting at around 72 percent fully vaccinated.
“We are slowly moving up in the right direction in terms of Pasifika, it’s just it’s gonna require a wee bit more work to be honest. Our priority is we’re not gonna stop at 90 percent so we’re gonna have to keep going. I guess the thing that’s not on our side is time.”
In Waitematā – 92 percent of people have had the first dose, whilst 83 percent have had their second.
Te Whānau o Waipareira Trust has delivered more than 120,000 vaccinations since the roll out began in April.
CEO John Tamihere said mixed messages about when second doses should be has caused confusion.
“People then started reading into it, the longer you wait for your second jab, the better. They’re taking their time because they don’t believe that the second one needs to be taken you know, when times up.”
He told Checkpoint it was often a guessing game working out who was coming back – making it difficult for providers juggling appointments and preparing vaccines.
There needed to be more effort to make it clear anyone who had reached three weeks since their first dose should not delay their second, he said.
But he was confident if they could get to 90 percent first doses, they would get to 90 percent fully vaccinated.
There is now a three week wait to find out if Auckland is moving to the traffic light system – with Cabinet set to check in on the settings on the 29 November just as all those recently jabbed should be getting their second.
The government expects Auckland to move to the traffic light system later this month.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the post-Cabinet media briefing this afternoon that Auckland is oncourse to move after the 29 November check-in.
Cabinet is due to meet that day to approve the decision.
“Moving to the new framework at that time will mean certainty for Auckland. It will mean all businesses can be open and operate, it will mean we will manage Covid safely, but differently,” she said.
She said daily cases will grow but this is not the only consideration, with hospitalisation and intensive care usage becoming more important.
Asked if the 29 November date is when Auckland can expect to move or it would be some days after the decision, Ardern said Cabinet is aware of the pressures in Auckland and will be looking to move quickly, and will be pragmatic about it.
The prime minister has also announced that Auckland will move to alert level 3, step 2 from 11.59pm tomorrow.
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