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Level 4 lockdown to be extended until at least 11:59pm on Tuesday, August 31 for Auckland and Friday, August 27 for the rest of the country; Parliament won't sit this week

Level 4 lockdown to be extended until at least 11:59pm on Tuesday, August 31 for Auckland and Friday, August 27 for the rest of the country; Parliament won't sit this week

LAST UPDATED AT 6:14PM

Level 4 lockdown will be extended until at least Tuesday, August 31 for Auckland, and Friday, August 27 for the rest of New Zealand.

Cabinet made the decision on Monday.

Auckland's alert level will be reviewed on Monday. The rest of the country's settings will be reviewed on Friday. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more certainty around the Covid-19 situation was required before moving down alert levels.

The decision follows 35 new cases of Covid-19 being reported on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the community up to 107. Eight cases are in Wellington. The rest are in Auckland. 

Ardern said an issue is that contacts of positive Covid-19 cases are spread around the country.

Over 100 of the 14,000 contacts identified are in the South Island. Below is a map from the Ministry of Health that shows where these contacts are. Click on the magnifying glass to zoom in.

What's more, Ardern said almost 8000 people travelled from Auckland to their homes in other parts of the country after the lockdown came into force. So we've only had 72 hours where people have stayed put nationwide.

Ardern said the edges of the outbreak haven't been defined, nor the peak reached. 

She said early estimates were that the average number of people that cases in the community cluster are passing Covid-19 onto is six or higher. This number needs to be less than one for the for virus to be stamped out.

“So we have some way to go yet,” Ardern said.

Looking further at the 14,000 contacts, just over half have been contacted. Just over 300 are "very" close contacts. There are 338 locations are interest.

Ardern noted the Ministry of Health was taking a conservative approach to identifying contacts. In other words, all attendees at a church service or awards night attended by an infected person are considered contacts.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said seven people are in hospital with Covid-19. The only person in intensive care is someone from Fiji, who isn't part of the community cluster.

Ardern believed only 11 of the 107 people in the community cluster had received a vaccination. She the cohort of infected people was relatively young. 

She said eliminating Covid-19 remains the strategy.

Parliament suspended

Cabinet has decided Parliament won’t sit this week, as planned before the outbreak. It will resume on Tuesday, August 31. 

Select committee meetings, which are chaired by Labour MPs, will take place virtually and be televised on Parliament TV.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson, Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins, Transport Minister Michael Wood, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni, and Police Minister Poto Williams will appear before various committee this week.

However, the Epidemic Response Committee, chaired by the Opposition Leader, won’t be stood up again.

During last year's lockdown, government ministers and various subject experts appeared before this committee for questioning. Meetings were broadcast. 

National wants this committee to be stood up again. It supports Parliament being suspended for one week only. 

ACT wants the Epidemic Response Committee to be brought back at the very least. 

Both parties are unhappy with the current set-up and are calling for more accountability. 

Below are copies of press releases related to this situation.

Leader of the House Chris Hipkins

“The Director-General of Health has advised, and Cabinet has agreed, that it is not advisable for MPs to participate in a large indoor gathering for an extended period of time, or travel inter-regionally to do so, while the COVID-19 risk for New Zealand remains high.

“As a result, the Government has consulted leaders of the other parties and the Speaker has been informed that the next sitting of the House has been postponed until Tuesday 31 August. This will be reviewed on Thursday.

“In making this decision, Cabinet was very mindful of the need for ongoing democratic scrutiny. Opposition and backbench MPs should still have the opportunity to question the Government in the absence of House sittings.

“As such, Ministers and senior government officials will be making themselves available to appear before virtual select committees over the coming week. Those meetings will be televised on Parliament TV and we expect opposition members to have the bulk of the allotted time to ask questions.

“I have worked with other parties to agree a schedule of meetings.

“I can confirm the Minister of Finance will be available to appear before the Finance and Expenditure Committee tomorrow morning, and the Minster for COVID-19 Response will appear before the Health Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.”

In addition, relevant ministers will appear before the Social Services, Transport and Justice committees this week, as follows. 

Tuesday:

  • 10.30am – Finance and Expenditure (Hon Robertson & officials)
  • 2.30pm – Health (Hon Hipkins & Health officials)

Wednesday:

  • 10am – Transport & Infrastructure (Hon Wood & Officials)
  • 11am – Social Services (Hon Sepuloni & Officials)
  • 2.30pm – Health (Hon Hipkins and MIQ/Border officials)

Thursday:

  • 10am – Justice (Hon Williams & Police)
  • 11am – TBC
  • 2.30pm – Health (Prof Skegg, other external experts)

National Party

The Prime Minister has advised me that she is unilaterally suspending parliament, Leader of the Opposition Judith Collins says.

“I have expressed that a one week suspension of Parliament is all the National Party will support. However, the Prime Minister has indicated that she expects it will continue longer than that.

“At a time when New Zealanders have the harshest lockdown in the world and have lost our freedoms because of the Government’s failure to vaccinate and secure the border, this move by Jacinda Ardern is unfathomable.

“Look around the world and you will see parliaments managing to continue to function despite challenging circumstances. In the UK they operated virtually for almost a year.

“There are important questions that need to be asked as to how Delta got into New Zealand. Suspending Parliament means the Government avoids this scrutiny.

“As Leader of the Opposition I will be reaching out to the ACT and Māori Parties to establish how best we can prevent this shut down of democracy at the very moment we need it the most.

“Additionally, Labour have resisted all calls for the recommencement of the Epidemic Response Committee. Jacinda Ardern clearly thinks that her actions and the actions of her Government should be beyond reproach and is moving to ensure that is the case.

“This is unacceptable and an overreach of power. It leaves New Zealanders with no ability to demand accountability and transparency from the Government.

“Clearly, despite her assurances to govern for all New Zealanders, Jacinda Ardern is unwilling to be accountable to them.

“The National Party will lead the Opposition to demand democracy is retained during this time of crisis. New Zealand cannot and will not become a one-party dictatorship.”

ACT

“Jacinda Ardern is happy to have a socially distanced 1pm stand up with a dozen journalists in a room but not a democratic parliament with elected representatives asking her questions,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Ardern called me this afternoon to say she has decided that Parliament should not sit this week.

“At the very least the Epidemic Response Committee should have been brought back.

“The suggestion that Select Committees with a Labour majority, which have been notorious for obstructing questioning are a substitute for Parliament would not be taken seriously at any other time.

“Ardern’s objection that inter-regional travel is not justifiable is extraordinary. The planes are still flying to Wellington with people on them, Ardern just doesn’t think those people should include Opposition politicians.

“In the previous Level 4 lockdown, all parties agreed to closing Parliament in return for an Opposition-led Epidemic Response Committee, this time there will be even less accountability.

“This decision to close Parliament is totally different from all parties agreeing, it is dictated by Jacinda Ardern alone.”

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323 Comments

I really thought this site was better than all the ignorance running rampant through this comments section.

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... please expand upon your gripe ... I for one , find it hilarious how many folks think that sticking a horse drug called ivermectin up their butts is gonna cure covid .... man ... you gotta see the funny side ... just pray these silly sausages can't get their hands on the bleach ..

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There is not much hilarity for me in such ignorance, and having an anti vaxxer in the immediate family is great cause for concern for me.

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... if the antivaxxer in your family catches covid , they risk severe outcomes from the virus ... or they may get lucky & shrug it off ... if you get covid after being vaccinated , your risk of a severe outcome is negligible ... it'll seem like a mild cold ..

Basically , that's the nuts & bolts of whether to be jabbed or not ... I'm jabbed ...

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One tends to quite bad bronchitis if they catch a bad cold or flu, so I pretty much have a result in my mind if they manage to pick up C-19

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... a lady phoned up John McDonald on New Stalk ZB this morning ... she said she'd caught covid early in 2020 , prior to the first lockdown ... she's got " long covid " ... still lacking energy , no appetite , ongoing breathing problems ... and , then there's that rascal Donald Trump , who caught it & shrugged it off over one weekend .... luck of the draw !

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That's if you believe Trump actually caught Covid 19, which I don't. Someone of his age and physical shape would be lying dead on a slab.

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.. have to agree there ... and , larger than life , he's already positioning himself for another tilt at the Presidency ...

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I've had my first Pfizer shot and will get my 2nd in a couple of weeks, but I respect those who choose to hold off for now particularly if they're in a lower risk age group. There's a (very) small chance that there could be some long term side effects that we're unaware of.

I do wish that NZ had adopted more than one vaccine. It'd be nice if we had one of the non-RNA vaccines for those who distrust the RNA approach. It would also seem to spread the risk in terms of protection vs future mutations etc.

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... from the UK , medical experts are saying that a 12 week gap between jabs is best ... they've calculated that this gives the second 3 & a half times the efficacy as having it after 3 weeks ... and , fewer side effects ... am hearing that quite a few people are feeling ill , nausea & headaches , when the second jab is just 3 weeks from the first : best wishes !

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No they are not the last I saw BBC were reporting that the period between shots have no effect

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There will always be people who get the wrong end of the stick. Best to let others debate with then rather than censor their comments.

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Our PM does not agree with you. She is hiring a "Disinformation Analyst" for $120k. This is unlawful I believe as it is an attempt to silence free speech (Bill of Rights Act 1983). A judge has also banned a protestor from accessing the internet. A lot of people died to stop this fascism.

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The only facism going on is people like yourself tearing themselves apart to follow the cult of the individual and pushing it back against centuries of medicine and science.

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GBH You’ve been here for years. I know you’re not one of these weird propaganda popup guys. Why aren’t you looking at the data? Yes ivermectin is used to treat worms and scabies. It’s also a beautifully complicated molecule that’s synthesized by bacteria, and has been dosed to over 2 billion people in Africa for multiple indications.

In regard to covid there are 37 RCTs listed on c19study.com. Ivermectin has multiple mechanisms of action against covid, one of which includes disrupting the ACE-2 receptor binding required for virus replication.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8203399/
Ivermectin bioaccumulates in the lung which could further explain it’s activity.
https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cpt.1909

Honestly – look at this guy Pierre Kory and his colleagues at the FLCCC. Kory’s a hard core lung physician, and the FLCCC has over 1000 papers between them. Tess Lawrie writes Cochrane reviews. Add it all up. The numerous papers. The valid mechanism of action. The credibility of the people promoting it. Do you really think is this is a bullshit medicine that doesn’t work?

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.. doctors are running for the hills from research which appeared to show an ivermectin response in covid .. .. trials were falsified , data " adjusted " , comments plagiarized ... best idea : steer clear of horse drugs . . If someone in a dark alley says " pssst ... you , yeah you .... want some ivermectin ? "

Tell him " neigh ! "

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I misjudged your capacity for logical reasoning.

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Neigh !

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Speech in NZ is not totally free, sorry. Also the government hiring a disinformation analyst, so they can investigate disinformation and form ways to effectively combat it, is not violating freedom of speech anyway.

The government will be *adding* more speech to the conversation. Not taking away people's right to speak.

Government communications experts would be taking that sort of thing into their day job anyway, just most of the time disinformation isn't a specific thing they need to be worried about. Obviously with a pandemic and heaps of disinformation around (you can see a lot from people in the comments section here) the government has decided they need a formal, separate position to take on the work load. Then hiring someone specifically to do it doesn't mean it isn't a role that wasn't being performed until now.

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But do you accept that people have a sacred right to spread "disinformation", (as long as it is not inciting violence)? The Bill of Rights explicitly protects freedom of speech, and every right has a remedy. This job may involve "reaching out" and contacting people on this site to "talk about" their views ie harassment. Goebbels had a similar job.

A "Disinformation Analyst" would presumably have investigated Copernicus for proposing that the earth rotated around the sun...

We have a leader/follower who is pursuing "elimination", and are now the only country in the world doing so (as Morrison says he may stop soon). In other words we are doing something even Boris has stopped trying to do with their "Freedom Day". The 63% immunisation of Israel with the Pfizer jab has resulted in a massive INCREASE in cases and clearly does not work.

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It’s Russian Bots or nefarious agents. Site is being targeted. Creates polarity in views to divide the West.

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... but ... I live in Canterbury , that's on the East ... the West is dominated by Greymouth ... not alot of Russians there ....

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What an incompetent government who screwed up on their own 'elimination strategy'. You literally had EVERYTHING going for you.....

1) An island country surrounded by bodies of water so nobody can come in or out (without your authorization)
2) A small controllable population of 5M
3) Had a big head start as we had no COVID cases for months

Something so simple and you still end up screwing up. It's like taking a test with all the answers right in front of you, and you still end up failing. Elimination strategy my arse. This is what happens when you allow certain people to travel during a global pandemic. Good on ya Labour. Good on ya!

Enjoy level 4 lockdown for the next few months folks, it's here to stay.

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