New Zealand, outside of the areas with Level 3 restrictions, will remain at Alert Level 2.

Northland will move to alert level 2 at 11:59 PM on Tuesday the 19th October.

Waikato to stay at level 3, and will be reviewed on Friday.

Auckland will stay in Alert Level 3 the prime minister said. These settings will remain for two weeks.

The Prime Minister said “the alert level 3 rules in Auckland are the toughest restrictions in place anywhere in the OECD at the moment.”

“The strong advice that came through to us from public health, on the ground was that knowing what they know about the outbreak as it stands, their view was that Level 4 would not necessarily make a significant difference to the cases that we have in this current outbreak, Level 3, if followed, actually would make a difference and will continue to make a difference.”

Prime Minister criticised for lack of detail

ACT Leader David Seymour said Jacinda Ardern needs to say what level of vaccination is required to move alert levels “otherwise she is just making it up as she goes.”

“The Prime Minister either doesn’t know or won’t tell us what the plan is, and at this point it’s not clear which would be worse.”

“Ardern said that Auckland needs two more weeks at Alert Level 3, with current restriction levels, so the vaccine has time to ‘take hold,’ whatever that means. A simple question for Ardern is what number does that mean?

“Ashley Bloomfield, when asked for modelling of when Auckland would reach 90 per cent, was arrogant in the extreme, telling reporters that it would reach 90 when it reached 90, before back-pedalling and still not answering the question.”

Seymour said “a much better approach would be to set a Freedom Day when we’ll be opening up. The Government should simply say, you don’t have to get vaccinated by December 1st, but it’s highly recommended. That’s the day we lift restrictions.”

National Leader Judith Collins said “the ongoing nightmare of the Level 3 lockdown in Auckland continues with no hope on the horizon.”

 “The Labour Government clearly has no plan, no ideas and is providing no hope for Aucklanders.”

 Collins said “people tuning into today’s 4pm pronouncement from the podium were expecting some semblance of a plan about the pathway forward for Auckland. Instead, they got more of the same: announcements about announcements to come later in the week, and self-congratulation about Super Saturday.”

 “Likewise, the South Island remains at Level 2 despite having no Covid cases for nearly a year. There was some rationale for this when only around 20 per cent of South Islanders were fully vaccinated. But, two months on from the initial restrictions, many parts of the South Island have high rates of vaccination that should allow for an easing of restrictions.”