New variant not stopping New Zealand's reopening plans

WELLINGTON – The emergence of the omicron variant hasn't changed New Zealand's plans to easiness restrictions successful Auckland and determination the federation into a new, much unfastened signifier of its pandemic response, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

Bars, restaurants and gyms successful Auckland tin reopen from precocious Thursday, ending a coronavirus lockdown that began successful August.

Around the country, a caller “traffic light” strategy volition bring an extremity to lockdowns but radical volition request to beryllium afloat vaccinated successful bid to warrant information successful thing from getting a haircut to watching a concert.

New Zealand connected Sunday restricted question from 9 confederate African countries successful effect to the omicron threat. Ardern said she didn't expect immoderate further restrictions.

She said arsenic the caller variant is studied more, New Zealand volition proceed doing cardinal things similar interaction tracing, isolating infectious radical and requiring disguise usage successful immoderate settings.

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Ardern said Auckland and immoderate different parts of the North Island would participate the caller postulation airy strategy nether a reddish light, owed to outbreaks oregon little vaccination rates. Other parts of the state would participate nether an orangish light.

She said the past fewer months had been possibly the hardest the state had faced since the pandemic began, but the sacrifices of galore had helped stabilize an Auckland outbreak portion vaccination rates improved.

“We’ve travel done the past 2 years of COVID successful amended signifier than astir anyplace successful the world," Ardern said, pointing to debased decease rates, a increasing system and precocious vaccination rates.

The postulation airy strategy is designed to bespeak wherever outbreaks are putting unit connected the wellness system. A greenish designation imposes fewer restrictions, orangish requires much disguise wearing and distancing, portion reddish limits gathering sizes.

Ardern successful October acceptable an ambitious people of getting 90% of each eligible radical crossed each of 20 wellness districts afloat vaccinated earlier moving to the caller system.

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But with astir 85% of New Zealanders aged 12 and implicit afloat vaccinated, Ardern decided it was clip to marque the move.

Last week, the authorities announced the federation volition reopen its borders to the satellite implicit the coming months, allowing for the instrumentality of displaced residents from January and tourists from April.

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