The simplified framework has three levels: green, orange, and red. Vaccine certificates will provide greater freedom at each level.

Wellington:

New Zealand will move into the new Covid-19 traffic light system on December 3, which provides the ability for businesses and events to re-open to vaccinated Kiwis, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.Also Read – COVID-19: Delhi HC Resumes Full-Fledged Physical Hearings

All of New Zealand will move into the Covid-19 Protection Framework at 11: 59 PM on December 2, making December 3 the first day the traffic light system will be in operation, Ardern told a post-cabinet press conference.

The simplified framework has three levels: green, orange, and red. Vaccine certificates will provide greater freedom at each level.

The new traffic light framework will allow businesses previously considered with high risk to fully open to vaccinated customers at green and orange, and continue to operate with some restrictions at red, Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

She added that businesses that choose to open to the unvaccinated will face restrictions in order to suppress the virus among those most likely to have it.

“Setting the date now gives people, communities and businesses time to prepare to move safely and smoothly into the new traffic light system.”

Decisions on what colour each region will move into will be confirmed on November 29, giving regions time to drive up vaccination rates further, the prime minister said. “Auckland will enter at Red.

The settings for other regions will be based on factors like vaccination levels, but cabinet has already confirmed that no region will start at Green while we are transitioning and managing a current outbreak,” she said.