Police have been operating the northern Covid border between Auckland and Northland. The Government says it is working on a plan to open Northland up by Christmas.
Police have been operating the northern Covid border between Auckland and Northland. The Government says it is working on a plan to open Northland up by Christmas.
The Government is looking at ways Northlanders can travel out of the region by Christmas, but say vaccinations are the key to the region getting rid of lockdowns and restrictions.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins told the Northern Advocate that Cabinet is regularly reviewing the settings for Northland, with thelatest decision to move the part of the far Far North that was in alert level 3 down to level 2.
The Government announced last month that when all the country's District Health Boards hit 90 per cent double-dosed, the country will move to the new traffic light system - the Covid-19 Protection Framework - with more freedoms for vaccinated people.
On November 29, Cabinet is due to review how each DHB's vaccinations are tracking.
"The Government is considering how travel can happen safely ahead of Christmas, as we know that people want to get away and spend time with their families after a tough year,'' Hipkins said.
"The most certain way of ensuring that happens is for everybody to get vaccinated – if we all get vaccinated we will stay safe and so will our friends and whanau. Our lives will also look a lot more normal as we progress into the Covid-19 Protection Framework.
"But if people don't get vaccinated to protect themselves and their whanau, there are some really tough decisions to make.''
He said the Government has to continue to balance the safety of people, prevent them from getting sick – or worse – while also ensuring it is taking into account the wellbeing of those who are currently doing the right thing, getting vaccinated and following the alert level rules in their region.
"These are all things that are currently being considered. On November 29 if Northland hasn't moved before then (with a 90 per cent double vaccination rate), Cabinet will review the vaccination targets and next steps across the country.
''Any decision made will take into account the impact on people from ongoing restrictions alongside the impact of Covid-19 in those communities."
Northland has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 80.8 per cent of its eligible 161,320 population having had their first doses and 68 per cent having had both doses.
Efforts are underway in Northland to lift vaccination rates up, including visits from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare to vaccination centres in the region last week.
Also, vaccination buses will be travelling around the region this week getting to hard-to-reach communities.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins says plans are being worked on to open up Northland before Christmas, but vaccination rates will hold the key.
Many have questioned whether Northland will reach the magical 90 per cent double vaccinated rate, but last week Ardern said she believed it would do so.
Ardern said it concerned her that some people maintained the virus was not present in Northland.
"One of the things I still hear is that Covid is not here. My very strong message to Northland is of course we don't want it to be here and we're doing everything we can to stop it, but it would be wrong to say it won't move. It's a virus. It will come to people's doors and it will find the unvaccinated," she said when she was in the region last week.
"The thing we need to do is reach everyone before the virus does."
There were five new positive Covid cases in Northland announced on Sunday, taking the total from this outbreak to 23, which includes 12 active cases and 11 recovered cases.
