The Government is being consistent by opting against a snap lockdown for Christchurch – even if more cases emerge in the city, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
The decision to remain at alert level 2 was consistent with other responses when there is a strong knowledge of the history of the new Covid community cases.
The city’s current level 2 settings also gave the Government confidence, she said.
Finding more Covid cases in Christchurch would not necessarily plunge the city back into a level 3 lockdown.
Instead, tougher restrictions might be applied if new Covid cases were found that couldn’t be linked to existing cases.
The person who tested positive for Covid was returning from Auckland to their home in Christchurch and had a negative Covid test before departing.
Ardern said that showed the difficulty and complexity of trying to contain the virus’ spread.
She said that it also showed the complexity of vaccine mandates.
The two new Christchurch Covid cases are unvaccinated.
However, Ardern said it would not be possible to mandate everyone having a vaccine before they are allowed to return home.
When asked if the Government would not enforce a 90 per cent double-jabbed rate in every district health board region, given some were lagging behind, Ardern said the Government wanted to work with those areas to boost their vaccination rates.
She said the high vaccination targets were set because they will provide the best protection in the event of future outbreaks in each region.
Ardern said one reason people aren’t being allowed to travel from Covid-free Australian states to New Zealand is that it’s hard for Kiwi border officials to know where people started their travel from in Australia.
New Zealand was on a path to opening up to international travel and returning Kiwis and the Government had tried to give everyone notice of the direction its policy is heading, Ardern said.
However, Covid experts had told the Government it needed to be careful in opening up too quickly.
The Government’s “reconnecting New Zealand” opening of the borders plan remains scheduled for the first quarter of next year.
