Vaccine passes and mandates may be gradually eased in the near future as Covid-19 case numbers continue to fall, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
"We'll be looking to where we can feel confident that we've peaked and that we're coming away and in Auckland at the moment, we do believe that we are peaking, if not plateauing," she told reporters in Queenstown.
"We're looking for that to follow in our hospitalisations, but the indication that we've had from our modellers is end March [is the] likeliest time and then we should be coming away."
Ardern said we would not be scrapping the Covid-19 protection framework all together, however.
“This is our first wave. There will be other waves of Omicron and we have to make sure that we have the system in place that allows life to be as normal as possible - for business, for tourists, for visitors, for those who enjoy hospitality - while still putting in place the protections we need so that our health system isn’t overwhelmed," she said.
Vaccine passes and mandates may be gradually eased in the near future as Covid-19 case numbers continue to fall, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. (Source: 1News)
"We are still at a place in this outbreak where we do have high hospitalisations, we do have pressure on our health system because we have a health workforce that's also affected by Covid themselves.
"We do need to make sure that we're continuing to be cautious but we're also planning for when we come down the other side and we can start to ease many of those restrictions."
National Party leader Christopher Luxon on Friday called on the Government to scrap the traffic light system and pre-departure testing, and to begin phasing out vaccine mandates once borders are open to Australians next month.
READ MORE: Cabinet to consider changes to mandates, Covid framework
The future of the vaccine passes, mandates and the Covid-19 protection framework will be announced by the Government next week.
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