New Zealand's largest city exited its Covid-19 lock down on Friday as the nation moves forward with its plans to ease restrictions despite the emerging threat from the Omicron variant.
The Viaduct Harbour in New Zealand has signs welcoming people back to their homes.
The images are from the same company.
The reopening of the city of Auckland is part of a broader shift in approach for New Zealand.
Public places like bars, nightclubs, cinemas and restaurants will only be open to people with vaccine certificates, and they will still have to operate with some social distancing rules in place.
New Zealand has adopted a new traffic light system where regions will be rated based on their current Covid exposure levels.
The areas with red designation will have limits on the size of public gatherings, while the areas with green designation will have no restrictions.
The reopening of New Zealand comes as officials in the country remain confident they will be able to catch incoming omicron as part of their border quark system.
85%. According to official government data, there is a percentage of eligible New Zealand people who have been fully vaccined against Covid-19. 98% of eligible people have received at least one vaccine dose. The country's government was criticized for a slow start, but it was able to speed up its vaccine distribution in the past three months. New Zealand had one of the lowest inoculation rates in the developed world in August, but is now one of the most vaccined nations in the world.
There is a structure called the Tangent.
The Prime Minister and her government have faced some criticism over the lower vaccination rates among the indigenous Maori community. Only around 70% of the eligible Maori population has beenvaccinated, and the leaders of the tribe are concerned that the plan will leave them vulnerable to the virus. The highest proportion of new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand is now accounted for by the Maori. The government's decision to prioritize shots for the elderly has been blamed for the low vaccine take-up. Other community leaders have pointed to institutional racism, distrust of government, and poor healthcare access for the people of the remote and smaller towns.
The key background.
New Zealand was the poster child of the zero- Covid approach because it had no Covid cases for six months prior to the current outbreak. The south Pacific island nation moved to impose some of the world's strictest border restrictions at the start of the Pandemic last year. In the midst of a persistent delta variant outbreak, New Zealand's zero- Covid approach was no longer feasible. Since then, the government has increased vaccinations across the country. New Zealand has been more circumspect in rolling back restrictions than Singapore or the U.K. It is not clear what impact the omicron variant will have on New Zealand's strategy as it prepares to reopen its border to international visitors.
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