Covid announcement today

Former Prime Minister John Key has criticised the Government's "dog and pony show", in the way it is drawing out critical announcements on the future of New ...

Key said the simple bottom line was that most restrictions and rules needed to be lifted. And I think that will get worse unless the government actually changes the rules." We changed their behaviour - 95 per cent of the country is vaccinated, good on them, I have been a 100 per cent supporter of any effort to get to that point, it keeps them and their family safe. And if we keep doing what we are doing, we will have to keep running the economy the way we are running it, which is on the national credit card. And young Kiwis would also be heading on their OEs. Why do you have restrictions on anything - the answer is to keep people safe and change their behaviour. She also said they would not take effect immediately. Grant Robertson says we don't need to make money anymore - we just borrow money." "They want to re-engage with the rest of the world. Well, we're bleeding people to the world now. These deaths took the total number of publicly reported Covid-related deaths to 199 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to 10. The decisions, to be announced at 11am in Wellington, come as the Omicron wave starts to peak in Auckland, and slows across the rest of the country.

However, the ending of vaccine mandates in the education sector is being praised by the secondary teachers' union, the PPTA. Hospitality NZ said while the end ...

"We've done the mahi, but we have to wait for visitors to arrive to get the treats. "The first step that we in schools have to do is look at our Covid-19 health and safety plan. We don't need small tweaks; we need real change." So it is going to be really challenging." However, this does not mean a return to any sense of normality at the moment." And it's really important if we need to look at our individual communities to look at the vaccination rates, if we have Māori, Pasifika student populations that would be affected... But once again, principals and boards are going to need to have to do a fair bit of heavy lifting. They should go immediately." "We are a highly vaccinated workforce. "The cap should be pinned to the capacity of the venue. Maybe looking at it as a bit of healing and moving forward. Lifting it will not work for bars and other night venues.

Watch: The Prime Minister's press conference. Credits: Video - Newshub; Image - Getty Images. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a number of changes to ...

All outdoor gathering limits will be removed from the traffic light system, indoor gathering limits will increase and vaccine passes will no longer be ...

Ardern says for most people now symptoms are minor and they've recovered well at home, but others less able to fight the virus it meant a threat to their lives. The transition has not been easy but it has worked, she says. "We had no other defence, no other way to protect each other. Almost all of New Zealand's more than 500,000 cases of Covid-19 have been in the Omicron wave, she says. We hadn't locked down yet, but the early signs were there." Ardern says this is not the beginning of the end of Covid. It remains with us and will be for some time to come, she says. In Orange, outdoor events will also be limitless. Ardern says the government has also asked whether the mandates in the health sector could be narrowed, and expects to provide more updates on advice to the private sector on their use more broadly. However, she asks that people still get vaccinated and boosted, saying it will continue to be central to the stability and strength of New Zealand's recovery. Ardern says businesses should stand ready to stand up QR codes again and people should not yet delete the app from their phone, in case of a new variant that evades vaccines or is more deadly, in which case contact tracing would provide again a more critical role. From this weekend people will no longer be required to scan everywhere they go, and businesses are no longer required to provide the means to do so. She says it's the view of public health officials hospitality gathering limits can be increased in the red setting from 100 to 200 without having a significant impact on the health system, particularly when retaining the seated and separated rules.