Hipkins ChrisMINISTERIAL STATEMENTSCOVID-19—Alert Level ChangesHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister for COVID-19 Response): Thank you Mr Speaker. I wish to make a ministerial statement on the changes to COVID-19 alert levels.On Tuesday afternoon 17 August 2021 we were advised of a case in the community with no obvious connection to the border. In a matter of hours after this the Cabinet had met and agreed a move for all of New Zealand to COVID-19 alert level 4 from 11.59 p.m. that evening. It's now 14 days since COVID-19 re-emerged in the community and New Zealand moved to alert level 4. It was news that nobody wanted. The events of the last two weeks however have once again confirmed the value of going hard and going early. Elimination remains New Zealand's best strategy and we are throwing everything at it.On Monday 23 August Cabinet agreed to extend alert level 4 for the rest of the country and yesterday Cabinet also confirmed a decision from last week to move all of New Zealand south of Auckland down to alert level 3 from 11.59 p.m. this evening. Cabinet also agreed to keep Auckland at alert level 4 until at least 11.59 p.m. on Tuesday 14 September with a review of those settings on Monday 6 September.Unfortunately the latest outbreak has particularly affected Auckland. Once again Auckland is doing the heavy lifting and we acknowledge their immense efforts and the sacrifices they are making for us all. Based on the size of the current outbreak based on the number of daily cases we're seeing and based on the need to sustain reduction in cases before moving alert levels Auckland will remain at alert level 4 for another two weeks. Northland will move down a level from Thursday if the remaining tests that we are waiting for come back negative.We need to be confident that we do not have COVID-19 Delta circulating undetected in the community and we need to be confident that any cases we may have are contained and isolated. Signs are encouraging that after the hard work of all New Zealanders we are seeing the effects of the lockdown starting to turn the tide. We are seeing a decrease in cases outside of households a decreasing number of locations of interest and the reproduction rate starting to reduce. That's not to say that we are out of the woods yet. We'll continue to see new cases reported from these Auckland clusters for a while yet.In the last two weeks we've processed just over 420000 tests. Our contact tracing has also performed strongly. Approximately 34500 contacts have been identified with 28839—or around 80 percent—being contacted by our National Contact Tracing Solution. Also a shout-out to our managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) staff. There's no doubt the managed isolation and quarantine system is under pressure and their incredible and ongoing efforts to help keep us all safe deserve acknowledgement. They are New Zealand's unsung heroes. Our schools too are once again stepping up to minimise the disruption to students and their families and we thank them.We have gratitude for our vaccination workforce GPs pharmacies and Māori and Pasifika health providers. The rate of vaccinations has been increasing and in the last two weeks we've had more than seven record days which are averaging approximately 430000 doses administered per week. In total 3.4 million doses have been administered including 2.2 million first doses and nearly 1.2 million second doses. We do know and I acknowledge that everybody in the House has shown public support for this that the vaccine is our best defence against COVID-19. It is free of charge and it is safe to use. Vaccine shipments continue to arrive regularly.Throughout our response to COVID-19 we've used the latest evidence and the best advice available to us at the time. We've learnt and we've adapted and we will continue to be guided by the science.Last week I announced the introduction of mandatory record-keeping for busy places and large gatherings. These are the sorts of places where people gather consistently and in larger numbers such as cafes restaurants bars casinos concerts aged-care facilities healthcare facilities barbers nightclubs and libraries. It's now mandatory to wear a mask when visiting a business or a service at alert level 4. We've also based on the latest scientific evidence widened the gap between vaccines doses from three weeks to six weeks to get wider population coverage sooner. Of course we'll continue to follow the science—for example what it tells us about the most effective timing for booster shots and ongoing vaccinations.All Government border workers in high-risk jobs are now required to be vaccinated with checks and balances in place to ensure that this is happening. By the end of next month all those working in jobs at the border that may see a person come into contact with COVID-19 will also need to have been vaccinated. These are measures to protect those doing those jobs and to ensure that we are plugging any further gaps in our border defence. We're doing all of this and more while continuing our work on the reconnecting New Zealand strategy which we announced a few short weeks ago—though it feels a lot longer.It's understandable that New Zealand is totally focused on the here and now and getting to the other side of this outbreak. As I said earlier the Government is throwing everything at it but we are also looking ahead. We will not lose sight of the medium- and long-term goals and I can assure the House that planning for the future also continues apace.Can I end by acknowledging once again that the last two weeks have been difficult for a lot of people. No one wanted to see COVID-19 re-emerge in the community but we always knew that it was possible and that it could happen. We know that the best way to protect our people and our economy is to stamp out this virus and thanks to the hard work of all New Zealanders we are making great progress to do that again.