New Zealand Cabinet to Review Covid Settings Next Week – As It Happened | World news

This blog is now closed. You can read more about the decision to block the coronavirus Jacinda Ardern here and about the report on today’s earthquakes and tsunamis here. Thanks for reading

Navigation in the America’s Cup will resume on Wednesday, while cricket, netball and rugby may finally go on sale on Sunday for their big events, Stuff reports.

Ardern says he felt “absolutely” the first earthquake. Her first thought was “Bugger it,” she says.

I left Allan he says: “He texted me to make sure I did my job. 2.29am! ”

Minister of Emergency Management I left Allan returned to talk about the tsunami response. She says the call to cancel the alert was made when it became clear that “there was no risk to life.”

He faces questions about the notification system, especially the civil defense text alerts sent to people’s phones. These have been received by thousands of people at different times, but Allan says it is not yet known if this could have been improved.

“Those are strictly targeted and have been targeted, again, based on the science available to those who were most at risk of losing their lives. This was not supposed to be a white paper notification for everyone. ”

She says she is largely pleased that people knew what to do as a result of the overall management strategy, but that the government will “seek to test the system in the coming days.”

Both she and the prime minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledge that the first two of the three earthquakes were “disconnected”, one off the east coast of the north island and one near the Kermadec islands – requiring different responses.

Allan says there have been no reports of substantial damage or damage from the quakes. Now that the alert has been lifted, government teams can look more closely, she says.

Ardern says it was the right decision to lift the three-day blockade of Auckland earlier in February before restoring level three restrictions at the end of the month.

Ardern is asked if she will apologize for case L, a coronavirus case that says the government did not tell her to isolate herself and that Ardern’s comments about her case led her to be assaulted on social media.

Ardern now says (as she did earlier) that she will not apologize, but that it was never her intention to create a bunch.

Another exception: on Sundays, church services can only continue with less than 100 participants.

Ardern interrupted Bloomfield’s questioning of the Health Act to say that New Zealanders’ requirements in their response to the coronavirus “are generally very well understood”.

She says she does not believe anyone who violated level three restrictions set out to do wrong and has seen no benefit in continuing a “back and forth” on individual cases in the past week.

Ardern adds that there have always been violations of the New Zealand blockade. “Overall, the country has done exceptionally well – but I’ve never had a perfect experience.”

There are a few exceptions to raising restriction levels, says the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

People who attended City Fitness (the site of the most recent significant exposure event a week ago) and those told by Auckland’s regional public health teams that they are casual-plus contact, close or occasional of a confirmed case.

These persons must be isolated at their usual place of residence, present and undergo medical tests at a time and place specified by a medical officer and remain isolated until they receive additional information.

Bloomfield states that this is a “specific legal requirement” that binds these individuals under section 70 of the Health Act.

Ardern: “We may not be in the devastating position of much of the rest of the world, but an elimination strategy can still feel like hard work. It is completely natural to feel tired. Covid is hard work for everyone. Thank you for pushing forward once again. ”

Ardern says the government’s response has been overly cautious, given the unpredictable and highly transmissible nature of the coronavirus variant in the UK.

“Level three gave us an extra layer of security while addressing strangers and reducing risk.”

Auckland will move to level two on Sunday at 6 p.m. The rest of the country will go to level one at the same time.

Jacinda Ardern begins by pointing out the number of cases in France and elsewhere: “I know that here in New Zealand, we don’t take anything for granted, not least because so many of us know people or have people which we love abroad ”.

She says she accepts that the strategy of eliminating New Zealand is difficult for people, from losing their jobs to canceling the school camp. “Covid has affected so many in so many ways – but it will get better.”

She says she will launch a “roadmap” in the coming weeks, showing how the launch of immunization will affect Aotearoa’s Covid response next year.

I left Allan says the civil defense response to the tsunami threat was under way before dawn: “I want to thank everyone who did exactly the right thing.”

Jacinda Ardern: “It’s hard not to feel that our country is on the run from bad luck, when you have an earthquake, a tsunami and a pandemic to face in one day …

“We have had our share of hard times in this country, but during this time we have always been blessed with incredible people working in our emergency response system.”

Ardern praises the work of the Minister of Emergency Management I left Allan and she hands them over for an update.

Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield will provide an update on the Covid-19 response later.