More information on Alert Level 3 released
COVID-19 is a challenge like we have never seen before.
Our goal is to eliminate COVID-19 from New Zealand, so that we can live and work free from this disease. This is the best thing we can do for our people, our communities, and our economy.
We attacked the disease early and hard by going into lockdown or Alert Level 4. This has put us in a good position to eliminate the disease, bank those gains and to get ready to transition to Alert Level 3. When this decision is made, it will be because we have transmission under control and can tolerate a little more risk.
Getting this far has required a collective effort by every New Zealander. We are all making extraordinary sacrifices to protect the people, communities, businesses and traditions we care about. Thank you.
We will not risk going to Alert Level 3 too early. We will move when we have met four criteria:
- We know that community transmission is under control, and the transmission rate is very low.
- We have robust measures at the border stopping new infection.
- We have tracing and testing capacity to shut down any new outbreak.
- We have supplies for, and capacity, in the health system.
It is vital that everyone knows we are still under Alert Level 4, and all Alert Level 4 restrictions remain in place.
Under Alert Level Three we will still have significant restrictions on our day-to-day lives. The risk of COVID-19 will have diminished, but not gone away.
If we are successful in controlling COVID-19 under Alert Level 3 we will be able to move down to Alert Level 2, where there are far fewer restrictions.
Overview of the Alert Level System
Alert level tables: