Kia ora John,

Today, I announced that New Zealand will remain at its current COVID-19 Alert Level settings until our next review on Monday 14 September.

Sadly, today, New Zealand also experienced our 23rd death from COVID-19. This is an awful loss and serves as a stark reminder of the importance of our continued vigilance as we tackle the recent outbreak in Auckland.

In order to stamp out this virus, we must continue to be careful and cautious. So, that’s why today, we’re asking all New Zealanders to double down on their efforts and keep going.

It’s thanks to the hard work and sacrifices of everyone in our biggest city that we’ve been able to contain this outbreak so far. But as today has shown, as a country, we cannot afford to become complacent. We all have a role to play:

• Aucklanders, continue to keep on doing all you can to help stamp out COVID-19. Think carefully about your activities this weekend, stay safe by wearing face coverings in public places, keep all social gatherings to ten people or less, and if you do travel, stick to the same guidelines as if you were home.
  
  
• For the rest of New Zealand, stick to the golden rules to keep everyone safe. Keep your distance and wear a mask or face covering when on public transport. Limit your social gatherings to 100 people or less, and use the NZ COVID Tracer app to keep track of where you’ve been and who you’re with.
  
  
• And no matter where you are, support one another. Now is also a really good time to shop locally and support Kiwi businesses where you can.

We’ve always said the best economic response is a strong health response, and stamping out the virus will mean our economy gets going again faster. If we get it right, we ultimately shake off restrictions faster, and reduce the risk of bouncing around alert levels. It means we can be confident in an uncertain time.

As I said a few weeks ago, this has been a hard year. But despite this, New Zealanders have been strong, we’ve been kind and we’re doing really well. We stamped out COVID-19 for longer than many other countries, and we can do it again.

I’ll be back in touch with further updates as we continue our fight against COVID-19. Until then, thank you for everything you’re doing.

Jacinda

P.S. If you want a refresher on what the Alert Levels mean for you, and how you can play your part to help stamp out COVID-19, you can find more information here.