New Zealand’s COVID-19 alert level has moved from Level 2 to 3, as the Ministry of Health has detected community transmission.
It will move to Alert Level 4 as at 11.59pm Wednesday, where it will remain for four weeks. This is the most severe alert level and will effectively put most people in lock-down.
The Government is providing more financial support, further to announcing a $12.1 billion rescue package last Tuesday. It will:
- Expand the wage subsidy scheme, including by removing the $150,000 per business cap. This means all businesses, self-employed, contractors, charities, non-government organisations, incorporated societies and post-settlement governance entities will be eligible. These changes are expected to take the cost of the scheme up to $9.3 billion from $5.1 billion. The scheme will still be available for 12 weeks. See this Work and Income page for more information.
- Ban rent increases and look to extend no-cause contract terminations. More details will be unveiled in coming days.
- Introduce a business financing guarantee scheme. The Government, Reserve Bank and retail banks have agreed "in-principle" that banks will be able to leverage the Crown's balance sheet to help them keep lending to firms. More details will be available in coming days.
- Introduce "significant support for mortgage holders". The Government, Reserve Bank and retail banks have agreed to this "in-principle". More details will be available in coming days.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Government is also making "urgent preparations for further income support for all workers".
Under Level 3 - "Restrict":
- Non-essential businesses closed
- Discretionary domestic air travel between regions must stop
- Schools only open for children of "essential workers"
- Mass gatherings cancelled
- Public venues closed (e.g. libraries, museums, cinemas, food courts, gyms, pools, amusement parks)
- Workplaces must implement alternative working with everyone who can to work from home
- Public transport only available for people undertaking essential services and transport of freight
- Non face-to-face primary care consultations
- Non acute (elective) services and procedures in hospitals deferred and healthcare staff reprioritise
Under Level 4 - "Eliminate":
- People instructed to stay at home
- Non-essential businesses closed
- Educational facilities closed
- Rationing of supplies and requisitioning of facilities
- Travel severely limited
- Major reprioritisation of healthcare services
Essential services to remain open at Level 4 include supermarkets, banks, financial service providers, GPs, pharmacies, service stations, couriers, building and construction-related services, food and beverage production and processing, courts, social services, utilities and communications services, media outlets and others. See a full list on the Government's COVID-19 website here.
The change in alert levels comes as the Ministry of Health can’t be certain where two cases of COVID-19 came from, so it treating them as showing “community transmission”.
It confirmed there were 36 new cases of COVID-19 in New Zealand as at 8am Monday. This brings the total number of cases up to 102.
Over half of the 36 new cases relate to overseas travel. Most of the remaining cases are close contacts of previous cases, or relate to events where there were infected people.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “If community transmission takes off in New Zealand the number of cases will double every five days. If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated, and thousands of New Zealanders will die.
“Together we can stop that from happening and our plan is simple. We can stop the spread by staying home and reducing contact."
National supports the moves the Government has made. It will put its election campaign on hold and has offered the Prime Minister its full support in the fight against COVID-19.
See this Ministry of Health document for a detailed break-down of the measures that need to be taken at the different alert levels.
Here is a statement from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern:
The Cabinet met this morning to discuss our next actions in the fight against COVID-19.
Like the rest of the world, we are facing the potential for devastating impacts from this virus. But, through decisive action, and through working together, do we have a small window to get ahead of it.
On Saturday I announced a COVID-19 alert level system and placed New Zealand at Alert Level 2.
I also said we should all be prepared to move quickly. Now is the time to put our plans into action.
We are fortunate to still be some way behind the majority of overseas countries in terms of cases, but the trajectory is clear. Act now, or risk the virus taking hold as it has elsewhere.
We currently have 102 cases. But so did Italy once. Now the virus has overwhelmed their health system and hundreds of people are dying every day.
The situation here is moving at pace, and so must we.
We have always said we would act early. Today 36 new cases were announced. While the majority of these cases continue to be linked to overseas travel in some way, I can also confirm, as did the Director General of Health, that we have 2 cases where public health officials have been unable to find how they came in contact with COVID-19. On that basis, we now consider that there is transmission within our communities.
If community transmission takes off in New Zealand the number of cases will double every five days. If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated, and tens of thousands New Zealanders will die.
There is no easy way to say that – but it is the reality we have seen overseas – and the possibility we must now face here.
Together, we must stop that happening, and we can.
Right now we have a window of opportunity to break the chain of community transmission – to contain the virus – to stop it multiplying and to protect New Zealanders from the worst.
Our plan is simple. We can stop the spread by staying at home and reducing contact.
Now is the time to act.
That’s why Cabinet met today and agreed that effective immediately, we will move to Alert Level 3 nationwide.
After 48 hours, the time required to ensure essential services are in place, we will move to Level 4.
These decisions will place the most significant restriction on New Zealanders' movements in modern history. This is not a decision taken lightly. But this is our best chance to slow the virus and to save lives.
Let me set out what these changes will mean for everyone.
Supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies, service stations, access to essential banking services will all be available throughout New Zealand at every alert level. If you do not have immediate needs, do not go to the supermarket. It will be there for you today, tomorrow, and the day after that. We must give time for supermarkets to restock their shelves, there will be enough for everyone if we shop normally.
In the meantime, we will be working through practices like those used overseas to make sure that social distancing is maintained at supermarkets when people are undertaking essential shops.
Non-essential businesses in New Zealand must now close. All bars, restaurants, cafes, gyms, cinemas, pools, museums, libraries, playgrounds and any other place where the public congregate must close their face to face function.
Over the next 48 hours as we move to Level 4, takeaway services must move to close their operations.
All indoor and outdoor events cannot proceed.
In short: we are all now preparing to go into self isolation as a nation. Just as you’ve seen with other countries.
Staying at home is essential. It’s a simple but highly effective way to constrain the virus – it denies it places to go, and will help give our healthcare system a fighting chance.
So over the next 48 hours every workplace must implement alternative ways of working, people must work from home so that interactions with others are limited.
Essential services will need to put in place alternative ways of working that ensure physical distancing of staff of 2 meters, or utilise appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.
Schools will be closed from tomorrow, except to the children of essential workers such as our doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and police – this will give them time to plan. This will be temporary, and schools will close entirely from midnight Wednesday.
The school term break will be brought forward. For the remainder of this week and through the term break schools will establish ways to deliver teaching online and remotely. All students across the country are currently being given information on this decision for their parents, including the list of who is considered an essential service. This will be communicated directly to parents.
To be absolutely clear we are now asking all New Zealanders who are outside essential services to stay at home, and to stop all interactions with others outside of those in your household.
I understand that self isolation is a daunting prospect. So we are being practical. You can leave your home for fresh air, a walk, exercise. To take your children outside. But remember the simple principle. It must be solitary. We are asking that you only spend time with those you are in self isolation with. And if you are outside, keep your distance from others. That means 2 meters at all times. This is the single most important thing we can do right now to stop further community transmission.
Travel around New Zealand will also change.
Over the next 48 hours, people will need to get home, be it locally or throughout the country. We have asked all air transport providers to ensure social distancing for that period. After 48 hours we will be moving to air travel only applying to the transport of people undertaking essential services and the transport of freight.
Public transport will also begin to transition over the next 48 hours will only be available for those working in essential services, for medical reasons, and to move essential goods – including ferry services between the North and South Island.
Further details on the transition we are all now making will be made publicly available on the COVID-19 website.
Now I want to share with you what will happen while we are all in alert Level 4 to get ahead of COVID-19.
We will continue to vigorously contact trace every single case. Testing will continue at pace to help us understand the current number of cases in New Zealand and where they are based. If we flush out the cases we already have and see transmission slow, we will potentially be able to move areas out of Level 4 over time.
But for the next wee while, things will look worse before they look better. In the short term the number of cases will likely rise because the virus is already in our community. But these new measures can slow the virus down and prevent our health system from being overwhelmed and ultimately save lives.
To be successful though, to stop community transmission which has a lag time, these measures will need to be in place for 4 weeks. Again, I want to reiterate, you will be able to make regular visits to essential services in that time.
If we after those 4 weeks we have been successful, we I hope will be able to ease up on restrictions. If we haven’t, we’ll find ourselves living with them for longer. That’s why sticking to the rules matters. If we don’t – if you hang out with that friend at a park or see that family member for lunch, you risk spreading COVID -19 and extending everyone’s time in Level 4.
Our low number of cases compared to the rest of the world gives us a chance, but does not mean we have escaped. I do not underestimate what I am asking New Zealanders to do. It’s huge. And I know it will feel daunting. But I wanted to share with you the stark choice we face.
New medical modelling considered by the Cabinet today suggests that without the measures I have just announced up to tens of thousands of New Zealanders could die from COVID-19.
Everything you will all give up for the next few weeks, all of the lost contact with others, all of the isolation, and difficult time entertaining children – it will literally save lives. Thousands of lives.
The worst case scenario is simply intolerable. It would represent the greatest loss of New Zealanders’ lives in our country’s history. I will not take that chance.
I would rather make this decision now, and save those lives, and be in lockdown for a shorter period, than delay, see New Zealanders lose loved ones and their contact with each other for an even longer period. I hope you are all with me on that.
Together we have an opportunity to contain the spread and prevent the worst.
I cannot stress enough the need for every New Zealander to follow the advice I have laid out today.
The Government will do all it can to protect you. Now I’m asking you to do everything you can to protect us all. None of us can do this alone.
Your actions will be critical to our collective ability to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Failure to play your part in the coming days will put the lives of others at risk. There will be no tolerance for that and we will not hesitate in using enforcement powers if needed.
We’re in this together and must unite against COVID-19.
I am in no doubt that the measures I have announced today will cause unprecedented economic and social disruption. But they are necessary.
I have one final message. Be kind. I know people will want to act as enforcers. And I understand that, people are afraid and anxious. We will play that role for you. What we need from you, is support one another. Go home tonight and check in on your neighbours. Start a phone tree with your street. Plan how you’ll keep in touch with one another. We will get through this together, but only if we stick together. Be strong and be kind.
177 Comments
Could've built 10 hospitals with all the money the quarantine is going to cost. The panic is doing far more damage than any virus ever could. Every government trying to one up each other with an abundance of caution without a rational thought between them. It's a total disgrace.
A handful of idiots like skudiv (above) could wreck it for everyone else.
My excellent neighbours (who happen to have a low level of literacy/numeracy and English as a second language) have grasped the urgency/seriousness of the situation far better than skudiv has.
TTP
Another must to avoid https://amp.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coronavirus-in-australi…
A close friend of mine works in Oncology in a Melbourne Hospital. They had to cable tie down their hand sanitser because people kept stealing it. And then this week they caught someone emptying the sanitiser from the dispenser into a bag and trying to run off with it.
Just for context, people receiving chemotherapy are amongst the most vulnerable to the virus, so protecting them really is a matter of life or death. These people are stealing resources from the most vulnerable.
Also my friend has not been able to source any fresh vegetables all week. She's about to go on her night rotation and doesn't know when or if she will be able to shop to sustain herself.
I tried to warn you all the danger we were in, not just from the virus, but from each other. Many of you mocked.
Hey Ginger, I thought you might have been a nurse or doctor. This treatment document may be of interest to you. A Chinese friend of mine from Wuhan who's wife is a doctor sent this to me. Apparently entecavir is an effective medication they're using in China.
Are you kidding this is reactive, the frontline medics rebellion delivered this policy shift. Thank you to them
The relationship, trust with the medics is critical, we are relying on them to do the heavy lifting, while being aware of the under resourcing of.... everything.
my landlord did just 3 days ago, telling me the bank manager advised him to do so . D*ck (s). I was so appalled that started to search for a new place for my family (I am lucky I can pay I just started to search for the place owned by human being , who knows what happens next) , but now I 'll seem to be locked in and will have to pay , unless government addresses previously issued rent increase notices
Despite what the real estate industry says, house prices will start tumbling in about 2 months time when present agreements finish. I have never known a recession when house prices have not fallen. This one is no different. Rents should be frozen or reduced by 10 per cent as landlords will try to put rents up when beneficiaries get an increase as happened last time.. Landlord have benefitted by big interest cuts.
Peak Prosperity.
Check out the data
Any threat to their own life and wealth, and Boomers will do "whatever it takes"...including putting the country into an economic depression.
Threat to their grandchildren's lives (climate change etc) and you just hear tumbleweeds...even when the ultimate cost is greater.
Yep, it's not okay to slow down the economy to save entire ecosystems. But it's completely fine to absolutely ruin the economy to save old people's lives. Double standards again.
I hope once this is over, old people will remember the sacrifice they were willing to make to save their own asses, and apply the same standard when dealing with climate change woes.
While it seems it kills older people more, it also kills young people. And if it doesn't kill young people it may have lasting health impacts.
And let's not forget that the prime minister and her cabinet, aren't that old. This was done to stop the health system being over run, and if that happened it would lead to the unnecessary deaths of people from all age groups.
I understand your feelings, I really do. The old generations have screwed this planet, and many don't care if it is the new generations that will have to pay the price. However, it is wrong to generalize to an entire generation. Moreover, this virus does not kill only the elders. If you look at overseas statistics, this virus also kills middle aged individuals, even fit and healthy ones. The difference is in percentage terms, but nobody over 40 (and even younger) can assume to be immune.
Everything that we have now, is handed down to us from previous generations. From those who fought with their lives for our freedom (social and personal) to those who dedicated their lives to enrich our knowledge.
If it was not for knowledge revolution in food and health most of us would have not been around to complain that there is too many of us around want to enjoy a high standard of living.
Gen X - no not really. The real future belongs to generations after that. We boomers have faith in the younger generations to step up to the challenges they face - just like generations before them. Boomers had to pay for Muldoon's Think Big Projects. In the UK they didn't finish paying off the debt from WWII until 31 December 2006.
I think the most important thing in a recession is to stop people from being dislocated. So taking care of owner-occupiers and renters is the most significant objective in my opinion. That is why i think it is daft to subsidies businesses instead of directly help the unemployed. Off course, strategically significant businesses should be exception and be provided with a lifeline. But, other than that if businesses are unable to survive they are doomed to fail. So waste of money to sustain them now. Instead help the unemployed (which includes many small business owners) for a few month. Not only this makes sense from a strategic point of view, it is way easier and less prone to abuse from administration point of view (IRD income records for the year ended 31 Dec 2019 are readily available)
I also think the landlords and the bank must take a controlled share of these losses to reduce the burden on everyone else. This would off course require banks to freeze charging interest (and probably paying interest on their deposits).
lastlegs: definitely 1987 levels but don't discount the sharemarket falling 80 % if it were to match the late 1920s, early 1930s of the Great Depression.
Be interesting to see what Mary Holmes says in her NZ Herald Saturday column as to whether she still holds to her position that the sharemarket will always recover from any disaster over a 10 year period; I hope she's right for the sake all those in Kiwisaver funds holding a good proportion of shares.
I can't even face looking at my portfolio summary at the moment; I must have lost at least $50,000 + over the last week or so. I'm a baby boomer so all you generation X's (or whatever) out there can indulge in a spot of schadenfreude.
And don't foreget it was baby boomers who invented those marvelous toys__the computer and the Smartphone__to keep the next generations distracted while us babyboomers amassed all the property.
The silver-lining for people with a few hundred thousand dollars sitting within easy reach is that they could become multi-millionaires if they can pick the bottom of this.
Why? You think the "high prices" will return? How do you know? Mary Holm, Sam Stubbs say so?
Wrongthink. "Ministry of Health has detected community transmission." MoH cannot relate two cases to recent travel. They're not widely testing for evidence of community transmission, otherwise test numbers would be 4 or 5 figures per day and would include serological (bloods) to detect relevant antibodies. The reason they aren't testing is that they did not Prepare/Plan/Position for this. Plus, other news reports mention 'the ability to trace 50 cases per day'. 50! Oldest story: when TEOTWAWKI is only seconds away, Gubmint is there for you within hours.
"THE ROAD NOT TAKEN"
(This is the title of a poem that is considered to be one of the finest of the 20th century: by Robert Frost)
I think it's an apt summing up to our response to the Corona virus which is typified in the link below:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/not-prepared-china-based-kiwi-s…
You need to read the whole link from beginning to end.
(google the poem if you are interested.)
Well done PM and NZ government.
You are acting as responsible and even more swift than the Chinese government at very early stage.
Now, the rest will depend on you and me so let's do what PM asks us for all and our loved ones and this lovely nation of tremendous hope!!!
You'd have to guess that it won't be the virus.
Suicides from asset obliteration and job loss; family violence born of fear and uncertainty; pregnancy terminations that can no longer be afforded and just plain worried to death for the aged and on and on. Let's just hope we don't have to count the war dead as well.
But that's what happens when you construct a debt soaked society dependent upon never-ending GDP figures.
It had to end. The only thing we didn't know was "What would cause it?" None of us saw the pandemic as the reason. Yet here we are....
No one knows. Pick a figure between 50,000 'normal' flu outbreaks and 50 million Spanish Flu ( the actually 15 mill factoring in the increased global population since)
Let's hope it's the 50,000 at worst. But no one knows...
What we do know is:
We aren't going back to what we had on 1/1/20. Not socially; not economically and not politically. Too much has been spent for it be otherwise.
Those are the better question that need answering.
To all of you bemoaning the move the govt has taken, stopping just short of suggesting that we actually do throw our oldies under real buses, we know sweet FA about this virus. Some things have flow on effects later on in life, and those that escaped major illness when younger may experience more serious issues later on in life, such as happens in the case of chicken pox and shingles.
I think you are all very, very foolish thinking that we should not take serious measures against this.
PocketAces: We know sweet FA about this virus because our entrepreneurs would rather be in the more glamorous industry of despatching satellites into overcrowded space than the less sexy industry of developing a more efficient means of identifying viruses and developing vaccines for them.
Incidentally, Rocket Lab is just one more expensive useless vanity project.
Obvious to me that the cry of''''Don't Panic'''is not being heard.
Supermarket in Dinsdale chocka.
Shelves half empty and people appear to be very much on edge.People leaving trolleys in aisles and leaving.
Carpark like driving in stockcars.Horns being blasted,threats being made people driving like Mario Andretti.
Obvious to me that the cry of''''Don't Panic'''is not being heard.
Supermarket in Dinsdale chocka.
Shelves half empty and people appear to be very much on edge.People leaving trolleys in aisles and leaving.
Carpark like driving in stockcars.Horns being blasted,threats being made people driving like Mario Andretti.
Anyone find any guidelines for businesses ??? On deciding what is essential and what is not. Using farm supplies as an example , need stock food and remedies , not fencing etc . or , what if a fence to a main road breaks , then fencing is essential .
In my own business , there are parts i would consider essential to some customers , Maybe 30 -40 % . others purely discretionary.
I heard Farmsource is considered an essential business as is those who service farm machinery etc (anything needed to keep a farm operating but not for wants as opposed for needs.
Will be interesting to see what happens for hort and viticulture. A winemaker was a bit concerned this morning as they have just started to pick.
Probably yes.. until stocks run out because the liquor industry is not essential and no resupply comes. Drove through a West Auckland suburb on the way home, no queue at the supermarket, but 15 odd people lined up on the footpath for the WestLiquor store. Stay classy West Auckland.
Granny Herald is reporting the list, but it's not really that helpful : https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12319181.
Arguably fencing for livestock might fall under "animal welfare", but you might need to convince the fencing contractor of that...
Good call from our Government, I fully support this. Anything to prevent an Italian situation.
There will be a massive economic fallout from this but we have a good chance to stamp it out like China did.
Not taking this action and having the very sad Italian experience we would still end up with a massive economic fallout so taking action now is the only logical thing to do.
Thankyou Jacinda !
With every office seemingly implementing their disaster plan it looks like Wellington CBD is being evacuated.
On the way in to Wellington there were so few people on the train it was possible to observe social distancing. Many public areas were empty when I went for a walk before the announcement. So it looks like a lot of people were ready for this.
I just happened to be in the local Countdown when the news hit.
When I went in, it was all calm and civilised.
As I left it looked like one of those "Attack of the Zombies" movies, as a hoard of people virtually ran in.
I shudder to think what's looks like now....
Happened to need to be on the road about 20mins after the announcement. The driving on Aucklands Southern motorway was frankly pretty scary. Increased following distance and chilled in the left lane keeping eyes out for panic braking in front of me. Luckily managed to get where i was going without having any issues.
Depressions are a great leveller. All those 'superior bosses' will soon be just one of the boys again. Lets see how that goes for them. Their overblown egos will find it hard to adjust and their sychophantic favourite employee will soon move onto their next 'best' boss.
There is a sense of inevitability in the progress of the virus and our reactions at individual and national, governmental level. Hopefully, we are going on the right track and the virus will be contained and die out soon. Time to show our solidarity behind the Government. There is no set template for this type of crisis. Got to use some old and some new measures. Any government in power now would be doing similar things only. Let us all be united and strong and do what we should.
Holy heck, sharemarkets sinks by more than 10%.
And The Herald thinks the RBNZ is doing 'qualitative' easing, ha. New term?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12…
...and the brain dead NRL remain committed to move all the teams in the competition to some small Qld village where there are the remains of a coal industry accomadation enclave and play the comp on the local sports ground. Time for them to join the real world.
To the Warriors I say come home guys. Your families will need you.
No mention of international travel? I can only assume we don't let people come from overseas otherwise what's the point of all of this!?
On that note, let's play this out. Say Europe and the US fail to get this under control and it becomes widespread, but after the initial hit on health things return to normal, herd immunity etc. Are we going to prevent travel to / from these countries? Otherwise we're right back at square one! And here's a statistic - the flu vaccine is only sixty something percent effective, so let's not go pinning our hopes on a vaccine.
I'm not sure today's announcement is good / bad or otherwise, but have our leaders thought the longer term through or are they just reacting?
I've been doing some rough calculations. There are 7.5 billion people. If the virus is left largely unchecked about 60% will become infected which is 4.5 billion. Of these about 1% on average will die which is 45 million.
45 million is in the ballpark of WW2 level of casualties. However it will be more evenly spread around the world. In WW2 Germany, Russia, Poland, Yugoslavia and Japan had a disproportionate number of deaths. This would lessen the shock on any one country somewhat.
However 80% of deaths will be in the 65+ age group. That is 36 million. Most people above 65 are unproductive in an economic sense.
That leaves 9 million deaths of economically productive people worldwide.
Translating those figures for New Zealand there would be approximately 6,000 deaths in the productive age group. For comparison with WW2 there were just under 12,000 deaths of economically productive people, mostly males.
My conclusion is that the economic impact would be somewhat less than that of WW2. Keep in mind that many of those over the age of 65 will die over the next few years naturally. Currently about 35,000 people die every year in New Zealand , mostly in the 70+ age bracket. We seem to be able to psychologically cope with this and frankly I'd rather die of the virus than cancer or dementia.
Isolating the elderly would greatly reduce virus casualties in this group. If our threat level 4 actions don't work out we may just have to let it burn. If it is a choice between civilization and Mad Max it could well be better to bite the bullet and keep civilization.
Again, if the health system is overrun then other people will die of currently treatable conditions too as suddenly beds aren't available and staff may be down. All elective surgery will be deferred too, affecting the quality of life for thousands more. You need to factor these things in.
ZS - Economic impact wasn't necessarily bad as NZ was better developed by the end of the war than it was in 1939. Far from being physically damaged by the war – apart from the loss of 11,625 lives, the highest percentage of population in the Commonwealth – New Zealand emerged from the war better-developed than in 1939. A series of war measures had expanded its secondary industry, while its primary industries had been sustained by bulk-purchase arrangements. Careful financial management had ensured that inflation was kept under control and that New Zealand, which devoted a third of its national income to the war effort, had largely paid for its war effort.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/second-world-war/page-9
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