Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says all of New Zealand, except Auckland, will move to Alert Level 1 at midnight tonight.
Auckland will move from Alert Level 2.5 to Alert Level 2 on Wednesday, September 23.
“With no new cases in the country today and no new cases for seven days linked to the Auckland cluster we are in a strong position to make our next move down our alert settings,” Ardern says.
That means gatherings of 100 people will be permitted from Wednesday at 11.59pm in Auckland.
“The reason for the delay is to make sure the orders for those provisions can be drafted.”
Ardern says the rest of New Zealand can move to Level 1 tonight because the government was able to in advance gazette and draft the orders for that alert level change as anticipated at the last cabinet meeting.
Level 2 for Auckland will be in place for 14 days for one transmission cycle.
“The Cabinet will meet again on Monday, October 5, to review those settings. If we remain on track it would be our intention to consider moving alert levels from Wednesday, October 7,” Ardern says.
Today there were no new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.