Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has welcomed Auckland’s move to the Orange setting of the COVID-19 Protection Framework from 11.59pm on Thursday 30 December.

“While the hospitality sector would like to have seen the move sooner, the government has balanced the health advice it has received with the desire to see a further relaxation of restrictions,” he says.

“With the number of eligible Aucklanders vaccinated at 90 per cent and rising, a downwards trend in new COVID-19 case numbers and the hospital system coping with the virus, we had hoped to reach the Orange stage before Christmas.

“However, with the omicron variant likely to reach New Zealand and new COVID-19 cases again rising in Australia and elsewhere, the government has opted to be cautious.

“That caution in the past has saved thousands of New Zealanders from becoming seriously ill, being hospitalised or dying from COVID-19. We have protected people better than almost any other country.

“I acknowledge that for those in the hospitality and events sectors who have gone through really tough times, an earlier relaxation would have been helpful to their recovery.

“While it is a more than two-week wait before we move to Orange, in the meantime most Aucklanders will be able to enjoy retail shopping and going out for a coffee, a drink or a meal. From this Wednesday, they will also have the freedom to move outside of Auckland.

“By New Year, that freedom will be further extended in gathering size and we can go into the summer break enjoying the ability to live relatively normally and without the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases which has threatened people’s health and safety in other countries,” Phil Goff said.

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