6. Question No. 6—COVID-19 ResponsePAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai) to the Minister for COVID-19 ResponseQuestion No. 6—COVID-19 Response6. PAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai) to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What recent announcements have been made relating to changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Last week the Government announced simplified changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework that are designed to target the restrictions to those activities which reduce transmission of the virus the most. These new settings which came into effect last Friday support greater economic activity and get everyone closer to feeling that life is back to something more normal whilst also continuing to manage COVID-19 and provide protection and care for those who need it the most. New Zealanders have worked incredibly hard to get through this pandemic and as a result of those efforts we're now in a position to move forward and to change the way that we do things.Paul Eagle: What do these changes mean at red and is he confident that it is safe to make these changes in the current environment?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: At red face mask requirements remain the same for indoor venues but they're no longer required outdoors recognising that outdoors the transmission risk is significantly lower. Where a My Vaccine Pass is used indoor capacity limits increase up to 200 noting that seated and separated rules for food and drink in businesses will remain at red. All of these changes have been informed by public health advice based on the latest evidence from here and overseas and on the advice of the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Group. With our high vaccination rates and the immunity acquired from the current outbreak we can manage future waves of Omicron with less restrictive settings.Paul Eagle: What will these changes mean at orange and does this modified framework account for the possibility of a new variant?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: At orange all capacity limits are removed but face masks are still required in many indoor settings. For indoor events we know that close contact is a higher risk so to help organisers continue to provide the safest possible environments we're encouraging larger events that have over 500 people to either add extra capacity at their venue or to provide seating. It's an encouragement not a requirement. The public health measures that we use are under constant review and then we continue to be informed by public health advice and when the virus has changed so too has our approach. If another variant does emerge that is more severe our approach will continue to be informed by public health advice. Keeping the traffic light framework in place helps us to minimise the current outbreak whilst also helping to protect us against future unknowns.Paul Eagle: What do these changes mean at green and what is the ongoing plan for quick response (QR) codes?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Ultimately green means guidance and not requirements. However we want people to keep up good health habits and to look after those of us in the community who are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. Green is very much the new normal. There are no requirements or restrictions but there is some additional guidance. With regard to QR codes people are no longer required to scan at any level of the framework and businesses are no longer required to provide the mechanism to do that. However if a variant arises in the world which evades vaccine or is more deadly contact tracing will likely become critical once again. So we don't want to throw away all the hard work expertise and learning which went into the process the first time around. So we're asking that businesses and others stand ready to be able to put up their QR codes again if required and for people to be prepared to pull out their tracer app again if it's needed in the future.