New Zealanders in Australia will be able to return home by the end of the month under a five-stage reopening plan announced by the government today.

The first stages of the plan would see returning vaccinated New Zealanders able to go into self-isolation and taking a test on arrival, rather than going into managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed the plan in a speech to Business New Zealand this morning, in which she defended the government’s use of MIQ and pledged there would be “life after covid”.

“It’s easy to hear the word MIQ and immediately associate it with heartache. There is no question that for New Zealand it has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic,” she said.

“But the choice to use it undeniably saved lives … MIQ meant not everyone could come home when they wanted to but it also meant that covid could not come in when it wanted to, either.”

The five stages:

• 11.59pm 27 February: Self-isolation opens for New Zealanders and eligible travellers coming from Australia
• 11.59pm 13 March: Open to New Zealanders and eligible travellers from the rest of the world; skilled workers earning at least 1.5x median wage; working holiday visas
• 11.59pm 12 April: Offshore temporary visa holders who still meet visa requirements; 5000 international students; consideration of further class exemptions for critical workforces that do not meet the 1.5x median wage test
• By July: Anyone from Australia; visa-waiver travel; a new Accredited Employer Work Visa opens and skilled worker exemption is phased out
• In October: Border reopens to the rest of the world, all visa categories fully reopen

Unvaccinated travellers would still go into MIQ, but with less demand the Defence Force would begin withdrawing and some facilities would return to being hotels. A core quarantine capacity would be maintained and scaled up, to become a National Quarantine Service.

Self-isolation period
The self-isolation period for returning travellers would match that for close contacts under the government’s phased approach to Omicron: 10 days under phase one, seven days under phase two and three.

Today’s media briefing at Business New Zealand. Video: RNZ News

All arrivals will be given three rapid antigen tests, returning results on day 0/1 and on day 5/6, with one extra test. Positive results will be confirmed with a PCR test.

Ardern said the tools used to help battle the health crisis had not stayed the same, and while some may feel anxious about the reopening plan, the isolation, testing and high vaccination rates would help keep the virus from spreading too quickly.

The shorter three-month interval between second and booster dose announced yesterday would mean more people were boosted by the time the first stage hit.

Ardern said the government would be continually monitoring the value of self-isolation, and it was possible it may not be needed in the “not too distant future”.

She also confirmed she would lead trade delegations this year to Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe.

‘New Zealand is in demand’
“New Zealand is in demand. Our exports are at record highs, people want to live and work here, international students want to study here, our friends and whānau want to return,” she said.

“Covid laid bare our unsustainable reliance on temporary migrant labour. Immigration will continue to be a part of our economic story, but we have the opportunity now to build resilience into our workforces while also attracting the skills and talent we need.

“We have a chance to do things differently.”

“I hear much talk of a return to business as usual but we are better than business as usual … we must now carve our own recovery. On our terms.”

“We are vaccinated, increasingly boosted, and continue to prepare ourselves at home and work with a plan – and so now it is time to move forward together, safely.”

The critical worker border exemptions under Step 1 of the border reopening would cover:

• Critical health workers
• Dairy farm managers and assistants
• Shearers and wool handlers
• Deepwater fishing crew
• Rural contractors
• Veterinarians
• Teachers
• International students
• Major infrastructure projects
• Tech sector workers
• External auditors
• Government-approved events and programmes
• Other short- and long-term ‘critical workers’

147 new community cases – 13 in hospital
The Ministry of Health reported today there were 147 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 44 at the border. Omicron is already the dominant strain.

In a statement, the ministry said the new community cases were in Northland (14), Auckland (90), Waikato (15), Rotorua (8), Taupō (1), Bay of Plenty (8), Hawke’s Bay (7) and Wellington (4).

A person admitted to Wellington Hospital has tested positive for covid-19, Capital and Coast DHB confirmed this morning. The ministry said there were another 12 people in hospital in Auckland, Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay.

There are no people in intensive care.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Solomon islands government endorsed a 60 hour lockdown in the capital Honiara last night after an urgent special national address by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare confirming covid-19 community transmission.

Honiara Emergency Zone will be in lockdown from 6pm last evening to 6am, Saturday, 22 January 2022.

The lockdown comes with restriction of movements of people as ordered by the Prime Minister under Emergency Powers (COVID-19) (Honiara Emergency Zone) (Restriction of Movement of Persons) Order 2022.

The order reads: “A person must not enter or leave the emergency zone on and from 6.00 pm on Wednesday 19 January 2022 until 6.00 am on Saturday 22 January 2022.”

The order also spelt out that a person must be at his or her residence during the lockdown period.

And it further stated that a person must not be away from his or her residence during the lockdown period.

Essential workers exempt
Those who are exempt to travel during the lockdown are essential services workers who are covered under the Essential Services Act (Cap. 12).

The lockdown in the Honiara Emergency Zone is important for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to continue to carry out contact tracing of people who travelled on MV Awka from Ontong Java on January 10 after a passenger on that trip was tested positive for covid-19.

Prime Minister Sogavare said: “The full extent of the covid-19 infection in Honiara is yet to be established, since this diagnosis.

“Given that the positive case lives in a household with other people, and some other passengers that travelled on the vessel have been reported to be unwell, I am sad to inform you that we already have community transmission of covid-19 in Honiara.”

Members of the public are requested to practise basic health activities such as washing hands for 20 seconds or use hand sanitizers, keep social distancing of at least 2 meters apart from another person, always wear face masks and avoid congregating together.

Other measures that have been put in place include:

• Temporary suspension of all domestic flights to provinces until further notice;
• Suspension of all incoming passenger service from international flights — humanitarian cargo flights to continue; and
• Suspension of all incoming passenger services from international flights until further notice.

Humanitarian cargo services will continue. Other cargo services will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Overseas cargo vessels, fuel and gas tankers will continue to operate as Solomon Islands depend on these vessels for its survival.

They do not pose high covid-19 risks so they will continue to operate during the lockdown period if necessary.

The Honiara Emergency Zone boundary is from Alligator Creek in the East to Poha in the west end of Honiara.

Earlier warning
RNZ Pacific reports that Prime Minister Sogavare had earlier warned the country could expect a rapid spread of covid-19 and deaths.

This came after 10 people had illegally entered Solomon Islands at Pelau in Ontong Java – six of them were confirmed positive with covid-19.

One of those infected is a doctor and Sogavare said he was greatly saddened by this distressing news.

A foreign national on a flight from Brisbane has also tested positive.

It took the Solomons tally of positive cases to 32.

Sogavare spoke on Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC), saying the number of positive cases was expected to grow rapidly in the coming weeks, and loss of life was expected.

The SIBC reports the prime minister saying the government had sent 31 personnel, including five additional police, to Pelau to bring the outbreak under control.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A New Zealand public health expert says the highly transmissible delta variant of covid-19 could prompt a local lockdown with even one community case in the country.

Otago University professor Nick Wilson said of the the 25 covid-19 cases currently in managed isolation and quarantine, “most” are likely delta.

The delta variant, originally identified in India, is almost twice as contagious as the original covid-19 strain that came out of Wuhan, China, according to the American Society for Microbiology.

Last Friday, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fully vaccinated people can become infected and transmit the delta variant, unlike other variants. It described this as “concerning” and a “pivotal discovery”.

“Delta has really changed the situation quite substantially,” Dr Wilson said.

If a case of delta was found in the community in New Zealand, Dr Wilson said the government would rapidly have to determine if there was an identifiable border connection.

If there was any uncertainty about this or how long the chain of transmission was, he said the government would move quickly.

‘Fast decision making’
“There would have be some very fast decision making to consider a local lockdown, and that is the approach that we’ve seen working in Australia,” he said.

“If it’s done fast and hard and quick, it may mean that a lockdown in a city or town can be restricted to just a matter of days.”

Dr Wilson said the transmissibility of delta meant MIQ facilities should have infection prevention control at the “absolutely best level possible”. He said there had been progress in reducing MIQ-related risk, with vaccination of workers and work on improving ventilation.

“With the very high infectiousness of this delta variant, we may need to do even more. That would be things like absolutely avoiding people mixing in exercise areas and smoking areas, which still occurs,” Dr Wilson said.

Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins this week revealed 44 percent of port workers had not had a single dose of the vaccine, which he attributed to “misinformation”.

Dr Wilson said the fact border workers were unprotected was a real concern.

“We know we’ve had problems at the border before with infections occurring in seafarers arriving from overseas.”

Dr Wilson said something had to change here – either the vaccination rate or the workers.

“This is an area that a lot more should have been done, to get those vaccination levels in port workers increased,” he said.

“And to seriously look at when those workers, if they refuse vaccination, actually moving them from those particular at risk jobs to other jobs where they won’t be exposed.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesia is pressuring Papua New Guinea over an illegal group East Sepik claiming to form an army unit to help West Papuan pro-independence rebels fighting against Indonesian forces across the border.

Calling such armed groups as “terrorists”, Indonesia’s Ambassador to PNG, Andriana Supandy, said his country respected the sovereignty of its neighbour, PNG, and called on the PNG authorities to act over the threat.

A video of a group dressed in military fatigues and brandishing automatic rifles has gone viral on social media, prompting the Indonesian response.

The men in the video, speaking in PNG “tok pisin”, claim to be from East Sepik. They say they stand with the West Papuan rebels and are ready to cross the border to support the West Papuan cause for independence.

Supandy said the Indonesian Embassy had been informed that PNG government officials were in Wewak to investigate the viral video on the social media post.

“The Indonesian government honour[s] the PNG government as a sovereign nation and leave the response to the alleged militants to the relevant authorities in PNG,” Supandy said.

“Both governments have the same understanding about the challenge and opportunity in managing the formal relations through the spirit of friendship and mutual respect.”

Gratitude over safety
Supandy said that despite the video causing uneasiness, the Indonesian Embassy would like to convey its gratitude to the government and the people of PNG for “ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Indonesians” working and living in PNG.

The embassy said the Indonesian government and people were reciprocating the gesture for PNG citizens living in Indonesia.

Supandy said the video of a vigilante group would not affect the strong relations between Indonesia and PNG.

“These armed groups in Papua and West Papua have resorted to acts, methods and practices of terrorism aiming at destruction of human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy while also threatening the territorial integrity and security of the Republic of Indonesia,” he claimed.

Right to ‘reliable information’
Supandy said Papua New Guineans had the right to “reliable information” relating to this issue.

He said Indonesia was committed to taking measures aimed at “addressing the root causes” of the situation in Papua and West Papua provinces.

He said in this context, Indonesia advocated humane, prosperous and inclusive development approach, including:

• Respecting the basic rights of the people in Papua and West Papua provinces;
• Establishment of good governance in Papua; and
• Opportunities for Papuans to shape and direct local development strategies and regional policies.

SBS News reporting on the West Papua conflict.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The New Zealand government should impose a week-long home quarantine for returnees after they have left managed isolation facilities to reduce the risk of community spread, epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker says.

Three positive cases, a Northland woman and a father and daughter in Auckland, were detected this week after they had left their managed isolation facility – the Pullman Hotel in central Auckland.

The three people caught the virus from an infectious person staying at the same facility. The initial source was sent to a quarantine facility once they tested positive.

More than 36,000 tests have been completed in the last week, 22,000 of those in the community, since the positive cases were confirmed. No new cases have been identified.

University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told RNZ Morning Report this latest scare had renewed his concerns about New Zealand’s border protection process.

“Personally, I think we should be thinking about this whole four-week period that [returnees] have, the week before they get on the flight overseas, their two weeks in MIQ in New Zealand, and their week after they leave these facilities.

“Obviously we need to focus more on that whole journey, but I think the week after they leave MIQ… it’s a really good idea to think about requiring a week of home quarantine. If we look at what is done internationally, say Taiwan for example, has used that approach quite a lot and they really do enforce that period, people are required to stay at home, it’s followed up and there are huge fines if you don’t adhere to that requirement.”

Returnees stay in one place
While he admits there are practicality problems associated with that, Professor Baker said the main point was that returnees stayed in one place, reducing the risk of another scenario like the one this week.

“One of the really concerning numbers is the fact that we’ve increased by about threefold the number of positive being detected in our MIQ facilities over the last few months, this has just crept up steadily and it reflects the fact that the pandemic is getting much more intense overseas, and we’re seeing more transmissible variants.

“So I would say the [government’s] focus really needs to shift offshore and thinking about the ways we can reduce the number of infected people arriving here.”

Despite the scare, Professor Baker said he was confident widespread transmission had been avoided.

“This is not like the Auckland August outbreak, where we had unknown chains of transmission in the community, these are very clearly defined breaches of our MIQ system and we know who they are, their contacts have been followed up, so it’s a different situation.

“So I’m reasonably optimistic, but I guess we just have to see more results.”

Professor Baker said one reason why there had not been widespread transmission could be because only about one in five cases transmit it to other people.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz