Next steps in COVID response

Extract:

...I am setting out the next stage in our COVID plan in the event we have new cases in the community.

The first thing to note is that the Government’s strategy for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic remains elimination. That has not and will not change.

Allowing our hospitals to be overrun, further deaths and the economy to close down again for an indefinite period of time is not a strategy.

We have seen overseas the toll that that takes on lives and economies.

We have said from the start that the best approach for the economy is a strong health response, and the evidence has supported that approach throughout.

We can already see that with New Zealand’s economy more open than nearly anywhere in the world because of the steps we took to break the chain of transmission under lockdown.

Our plan moving forward seeks to protect that position and minimise any economic impact of future cases.

So in the event of new community cases we would move immediately to implement our “Stamp it Out” approach again. ...