COVID-19 Update From The New Zealand Government: New Zealand Moves To Orange

From 11.59pm tonight, Wednesday 13 April, New Zealand will move to the Orange traffic light setting.

Across the country, case numbers have peaked and are trending downwards. Hospitalisations nationwide are also decreasing. These factors indicate that New Zealand can now move to Orange.

At Orange this means:

• There are no indoor or outdoor capacity limits, but there’s extra guidance on holding safe events and we encourage those organising larger events of 500+ people to take extra precautions.
• Face masks are still required for many indoor settings.
• There are no changes to the 7-day self-isolation requirement, if you, or someone you live with gets COVID-19.
• Bars and restaurants are no longer required to enforce seated and separated rules, although they can choose to keep them.

There is still Omicron in the community, and the threat of new variants arriving here is still a risk.

Everyone is urged to continue to be cautious and think about the health of others, especially those who are immunocompromised or at a higher risk of long-term health impacts from COVID-19.

Life at Orange | Unite Against COVID-19 (covid19.govt.nz)

The importance of face masks

Wearing a face mask at Orange is still important, especially with capacity limits removed.

People must wear a face mask in many indoor settings, such as on public transport, in retail premises and public facilities (excluding swimming pools). This is because next to being vaccinated and having a booster vaccination, face masks remain our best defence against COVID-19.

International research shows that wearing them can reduce new cases of the virus by as much as 53%.

This means by putting on a face mask you are contributing to lowering our case numbers, lowering the number of people in hospital, and lowering the number of deaths.

Wear a face mask | Unite against COVID-19 (covid19.govt.nz)

Vaccination progress

We continue to urge people to get vaccinated and boostered if they can and haven’t already. This helps protect you and your loved ones.

Being highly vaccinated will continue to be central to the strength and stability of our recovery.

To date, more than 95% of people aged 12 and older in New Zealand have had two vaccine doses.

People vaccinated (including those vaccinated overseas): all ethnicities (percentage of eligible people aged 12 and older: 4,055,904 first dose (96.4%); 4,005,591 second dose (95.2%); 2,603,133 boosted (72.7% of those eligible).

Contact information

Call Healthline if you have symptoms 0800 358 5453

Need to talk? For mental health help, call or text 1737

Free helpline for businesses, offering advice and access to Government business support, HR and general business advice and access to online resources and webinars.

Call 0800 500 362 for North Island, or 0800 50 50 96 for South Island.

Report issues and people or businesses not following advice to COVID-19 Compliance Centre.

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