Coronavirus: Global situation
NZ to adopt new system of living with virus
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WELLINGTON • New Zealand will from Dec 3 adopt a new system of living with the coronavirus, which will end tough restrictions and allow businesses to operate in its biggest city, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday.
New Zealand remained largely Covid-19 free until August but has been unable to beat an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, forcing Ms Ardern to abandon an elimination strategy and switch to treating the virus as endemic.
Its biggest city Auckland has been in lockdown for more than 90 days, although some measures were eased recently.
"The hard truth is that Delta is here and not going away, but New Zealand is well set to tackle it because of our high vaccination rates and our latest safety measures, including the traffic light system and Vaccine Pass," Ms Ardern said.
The new system will rate regions as red, orange or green depending on their level of exposure to Covid-19 and vaccination rates.
Auckland, the epicentre of the Delta outbreak, will start at red, making face masks mandatory and putting limits on gatherings at public places. Ms Ardern said about 83 per cent of eligible New Zealanders are fully vaccinated.
The government previously said the country would drop lockdown measures and move to the traffic-light system to manage outbreaks after 90 per cent of the eligible population were fully vaccinated.
Along with its geographic isolation, New Zealand enforced some of the tightest pandemic restrictions among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, limiting the spread of Covid-19 and helping its economy bounce back faster than many of its peers.
The country of five million has so far reported about 7,000 cases in all and just 39 deaths. Its international border is still shut.
Air New Zealand yesterday said it has cancelled over 1,000 flights to neighbouring Australia until the end of the year due to border uncertainty.
New Zealand ended quarantine-free travel with Australia in August after a new Delta outbreak there.
REUTERS
