New Zealand on Monday scrapped rules on mask wearing and vaccination orders, ending some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 pandemic rules about two years after they were implemented.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a weekly press conference that it was time to safely turn the page on Covid-19 control in the country and live without the ordinary measures she was employing before.
“Finally, instead of feeling that covid dictates what happens to us, our lives and our future, we are regaining control,” Ardern said.
“For the first time in two years, we can spend the summer with the certainty that New Zealanders and businesses desperately need, helping to stimulate more economic activity critical to our economic recovery. “
All masks dressed with necessities have been removed in fitness and elder care centers. Only other people who test positive for COVID-19 will have to self-isolate for seven days, while family contacts will no longer want it, the government said in a statement.
All government vaccination mandates will also be eliminated on Sept. 26, Ardern said, adding that employers will now require or not that their workforce be vaccinated.
The government will also eliminate all vaccinations for incoming travelers and cabin crew.
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New Zealand’s immediate reaction to the pandemic, strict pandemic regulations and geographic isolation in much of the virus until the end of last year.
The government abandoned its zero covid policy this year once the population was widely vaccinated. Since then, the virus has been allowed to spread. There have been 1,950 deaths and an estimated 1. 7 million showed cases of Covid-19.
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