The whole country will move to the traffic light system on December 3.
The move will be made ahead of the Auckland boundary being removed on December 15.
When Cabinet meets next Monday, November 29, it will decide which levels different parts of the country will move to.
The Government has already indicated Auckland, as well as areas with low vaccination rates, will move to red. Other parts of the country will move to orange.
The traffic light system is underpinned by the use of vaccine certificates. Businesses can operate under fewer restrictions if they require customers to prove they've been vaccinated.
A move to the traffic light system will enable hospitality businesses in Auckland to reopen. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they won’t be able to open before December 3 (IE the Government won’t move Auckland to Step 3 of Level 3 under the existing system).
The vaccine certificate system will be trialled in Auckland from Thursday, when hairdressers and barbers that require customers to have certificates, can reopen.
The Government will later this week provide information on how different sectors will operate under the traffic light system.
Here is an overview of the traffic light system:
As the Government announced last week, those travelling out of Auckland between December 15 and January 17 will need to either be double-vaxxed or have returned a negative test result within 72 hours.
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