Covid-19: New Zealand to move to Orange in time for Easter

New Zealand is set to move to Orange in the traffic light settings from 11.59pm tonight, Wednesday April 13.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins made the announcement from Parliament on Wednesday.

He said the fall in cases and hospitalisations and arrival of new antiviral medications meant the death rate was also falling, all justifying a relaxation in settings.

In particular, hospitalisations in the three Auckland health board areas had declined, and planned care delivery was increasing.

"The overall picture is a very positive one."

The move means schools can decide if students should wear masks.

Hipkins said they considered prolonging mask use in schools, but said it was "very challenging for schools" to enforce. He said there was a case for some schools to use masks currently, as the Omicron outbreak continues.

Masks are required on public transport, in retail, aged care and other indoor facilities, although the Minister himself was confused about the rules during the news conference.

Hospitality customers will no longer need to be seated and indoor gathering limits are scrapped.

The Government kept the country at Red last week due to sustained pressure on the health system. As of April 12, there were 622 people in hospital and 23 in ICU or a high dependency ward.

Today, there were 9495 new Covid-19 cases and 15 deaths reported. The deaths had occurred over the past eight days, including 11 in the past two days.

New Zealand has been at Red since January 23 after nine cases of Omicron were reported in the Tasman region.

The next review of settings will be in the middle of May.

Green Party's James Shaw said New Zealand still had "very low" booster vaccination amongst Māori and Pacific communities, and second vaccinations with children over five.

"We should be staying at the higher level of caution until we get those vaccination rates up to the point where we can say we have a truly equitable vaccine programme.

"It is really concerning. We've just past 500 deaths in this country, which two-years-ago would have been completely unacceptable. It does feel like a strange time to be stepping down the traffic light levels."

ACT's David Seymour said the move to Orange was a "massive relief for people in hospitality and events industry".

"The question for the Government is why we kept these restrictions for so long with no analysis of the costs and benefits of keeping us under a de facto lockdown for this last period of time."

He supported the mask decision being in the hands of schools.

National's Christopher Luxon said that the traffic light system was "fundamentally a complication and a confusion" and should be scrapped.

"Let's just have a few basic things around masks and isolation periods and let's move on."

Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles tweeted that the removal of the mask requirement in schools was disappointing.

She also said that for, "everyone who is struggling with why there should still be mask requirements in some places, there is still Covid in NZ & there are people it will make very sick/who may die".

"They need to be able to do at least some things and not just be locked away at home. 'Pashing at a nightclub' or going out to dinner are obviously off the table for then, but why shouldn’t they be able to go shopping, or to the library, or fly to visit friends & family? The way we make those things safer for them is if we all wear a face mask."