COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand was part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case of the disease in New Zealand was reported on 28 February 2020. The country recorded over 2,274,370 cases (2,217,047 confirmed and 57,323 probable[a]). Over 3,000 people died as a result of the pandemic, with cases recorded in all twenty district health board (DHB) areas.[1] The pandemic first peaked in early April 2020, with 89 new cases recorded per day and 929 active cases. Cases peaked again in October 2021 with 134 new cases reported on 22 October.[2]
In response to the first outbreak in late February 2020, the New Zealand Government closed the country's borders and imposed lockdown restrictions.[3] A four-tier alert level system was introduced on 21 March 2020 to manage the outbreak within New Zealand.[4] Since then, after a two-month nationwide lockdown, from 26 March to 27 May 2020, regionalised alert level changes have been used, where the Auckland Region has entered lockdown twice, in August–September 2020 and February–March 2021.[5][6] The country then went for several months without any community transmission, with all cases restricted to the managed isolation system.[7]
In August 2021, New Zealand entered nationwide lockdown due to a case of community transmission in Auckland of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, with subsequent community cases in Auckland and Wellington.[7] Due to rising cases nationwide, the Government abandoned its elimination strategy while accelerating the country's vaccination rollout.[8] Auckland remained in a form of lockdown until 3 December 2021 when the new COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system") came into effect.[9] Between February and May 2022, the Government gradually eased border restrictions, public gathering limits, and vaccine mandate requirements.[10][11][12] In September 2022, the Government ended the COVID-19 Protection Framework, lifting the remaining vaccine mandates and mask requirements.[13] On 15 August 2023, the New Zealand Government lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions.[14]
Court rulings
On 4 May 2020, a High Court judge allowed a man who had travelled from the United Kingdom to visit his dying father, overruling the Government's strict lockdown orders including a 14-day quarantine period for all overseas travellers. In response, Prime Minister Ardern asked Health Minister David Clark to review 24 cases where health authorities blocked requests by individuals to see their dying relatives on health grounds.[213][214] As a result of the Government's review, a woman was granted exemption from the mandatory 14-day quarantine to visit her 59 year old terminally ill mother.[215]
On 19 August, the Wellington High Court ruled that the Government's message to stay at home at the start of the Alert Level 4 lockdown for nine days between 26 March and 3 April was justified but unlawful and contrary to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. A law change on 3 April made the lockdown legal. The High Court's ruling had come in response to a legal challenge mounted by lawyer Andrew Borrowdale. The Attorney General David Parker has defended the Government's handling of the lockdown and not ruled out an appeal against the ruling.[216][217]
Long-term effects
In April 2020, the New Zealand Treasury projected that the country could experience an unemployment rate of 13.5% if the country remained in lockdown for four weeks, with a range of between 17.5% and 26% if the lockdown was extended.[261] Prior to the lockdown, the unemployment rate was at 4.2%.[262] Finance Minister Grant Robertson vowed that the Government would keep the unemployment rate below 10%.[263]
In the second quarter of 2020, unemployment fell 0.2 percentage points to 4 percent; however, the under-utilisation rate (a measure of spare capacity in the labour market) rose to a record 12 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous quarter, and working hours fell by 10 percent.[264]
National GDP contracted 1.6% in the first quarter of 2020.[265] The country officially entered a recession in September after Statistics New Zealand reported a GDP contraction of 12.2% in the second quarter of 2020.[266] The second-quarter contraction was led by a 47.4% contraction in accommodation and food and beverage services, a 38.7% contraction in transport, postal and warehousing, and a 25.8% contraction in construction.[267] GDP rebounded 14.0% in the third quarter of 2020.[268]
On 3 November 2021, Statistics New Zealand reported that the unemployment rate had dropped to 3.4% despite the effects of COVID-19, the lowest rate recorded since the organisation started reporting it.[269]
Testing
Requirements
In early March 2020, there were concerns about COVID-19 tests being given only to people with symptoms who had returned from impacted countries or people who had been in contact with a confirmed case.[272] Some people with symptoms but who did not fit these categories were not tested.[273] In April the New Zealand Microbiology Network recommended that transfers into or between aged care providers should not be tested,[274] a position they maintained despite an outbreak in care facilities and calls for screening tests from E Tū union and the Aged Care Association.[275]
The case definition for qualifying for a COVID-19 test is having "any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, coryza, [or] anosmia with or without fever."[276]
The previous case definition for testing from 14 March to 3 April was meeting at least one of the following criteria:[277]