The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand was part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case of the disease in New Zealand was reported on 28 February 2020. The country recorded over 2,274,370 cases (2,217,047 confirmed and 57,323 probable). Over 3,000 people died as a result of the pandemic, with cases recorded in all twenty district health board (DHB) areas. The pandemic first peaked in early April 2020, with 89 new cases recorded per day and 929 active cases. Cases peaked again in October 2021 with 134 new cases reported on 22 October.
In response to the first outbreak in late February 2020, the New Zealand Government closed the country's borders and imposed lockdown restrictions. A four-tier alert level system was introduced on 21 March 2020 to manage the outbreak within New Zealand. After a two-month nationwide lockdown, from 26 March to 27 May 2020, regionalised alert level changes were also used; the Auckland Region entered lockdown twice, in August–September 2020 and February–March 2021. The country then went for several months without any community transmission, with all cases restricted to the managed isolation system.
In August 2021, New Zealand entered nationwide lockdown due to a case of community transmission in Auckland of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, with subsequent community cases in Auckland and Wellington. Due to rising cases nationwide, the Government abandoned its elimination strategy while accelerating the country's vaccination rollout. Auckland remained in a form of lockdown until 3 December 2021 when the new COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system") came into effect. Between February and May 2022, the Government gradually eased border restrictions, public gathering limits, and vaccine mandate requirements. In September 2022, the Government ended the COVID-19 Protection Framework, lifting the remaining vaccine mandates and mask requirements. On 15 August 2023, the Government lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions.
Background
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was the cause of a respiratory illness (coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19), found in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China, which had been reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has reportedly been significantly greater, according to a statement by Prof. Azra Ghani from MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, a World Health Organization collaborating centre.
Transmission timeline
On 28 February 2020, New Zealand confirmed its first case, a woman in her 60s who had recently visited Iran The country confirmed its second case on 4 March, a woman who had recently returned from northern Italy. The number of cases continued to rise significantly through March 2020, reaching a total of 647 (600 confirmed and 47 probable) and 74 recoveries by 31 March.
On 29 March, New Zealand also reported its first coronavirus-related death, a woman in her 70s from the West Coast region.
On 5 April 2020, the first ethnicity statistics were released; indicating that 74% of those who had contracted COVID-19 were Pākehā, 8.3% Asian, 7.6% Māori, and 3.3% Pasifika. By 31 July, the total number of cases had reached 1,560, the total number of recovered had risen to 1,518, while the death toll had risen to 22.
Following 102 days of no community transmissions, four such cases were reported in Auckland on 11 August 2020, putting the city back into lockdown. According to 1News, Pacific Islanders made up 75% of the cases in the August community outbreak in Auckland. By 5 September, the national death toll had reached 24 with the death of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Joe Williams.
Apart from some community cases, most cases reported in New Zealand during the second half of 2020 were reported at the border. By 31 December 2020, there were a total of 2,162 cases; 2,082 recoveries, and 25 deaths in New Zealand.
On 25 January 2021, New Zealand identified its first community spread case of COVID-19 since November 2020 on Sunday after a 56-year-old woman tested positive for the coronavirus strain that is thought to have originated in South Africa. On 14 February, three community transmission cases were reported within a family in Papatoetoe, Auckland. Apart from some community cases, most recorded cases in New Zealand occurred at the border prior to August 2021. By 30 July 2021, the total number of cases had reached 2,870; the total number of recoveries had reached 2,799 while the death toll had reached 26.
On 17 August 2021, the Ministry of Health announced one new community case of COVID-19 in Auckland. In response, the Government moved the country into Alert Level 4 effective 11.59pm 17 August 2021. By 19 August the number of community cases had reached 21, with most being from the Delta variant. Following the August 2021 outbreak in Auckland, the number of both community and border cases in New Zealand rose substantially, reaching a total of 14,118 cases by 31 December 2021. The total number of recoveries also reached to 12,870 while the death toll rose to 51. On 29 December 2021, British musician Robert Etheridge (Dimension) was identified as the country's first Omicron case.
In early 2022, the total number of recorded cases rose exponentially; rising from 16,416 cases on 31 January to 100,821 on 28 February. In addition, the death toll reached 56 while the total number of recoveries reached 18,332 on 28 February 2022. Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa project leader Dion O'Neale attributed the sharp rise of reported cases in February 2022 to backlogs in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and data processing as well as the recent introduction of rapid antigen testing (RATS) for public usage.
Responses
Central government responses
The New Zealand Government responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic by establishing a National Health Coordination Centre (NHCC). In early February 2020, the Government barred entry to most travellers from China in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that originated in Wuhan. In addition, the Government sponsored several repatriation flights for returning citizens, residents, and their family members, beginning with Wuhan in February 2020.
In response to rising cases from overseas travel and within the community, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern closed the country's borders to non-citizens and non-residents on 19 March 2020. On 21 March, the Government introduced a four-tier alert level system, which placed much of the country's population and economy into lockdown from 25 March. Due to the success of the Government's elimination strategy in reducing the spread of COVID-19, lockdown restrictions on mobility, social gatherings and economic activities were progressively lifted on 28 April, 11 May, 25 May, and 8 June. The lifting of Alert Level 1 restrictions on 8 June eliminated social distancing and lockdown restrictions but retained border restrictions. On 13 May, the Government passed the controversial COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 which empowered law enforcement to enter homes and other premises without a warrant in order to enforce lockdown restrictions.
On 11 August 2020, the Government reinstated lockdown restrictions following a second outbreak of community transmissions in Auckland. Due to the reduction in community transmissions, lockdown restrictions in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand were progressively eliminated on 30 August, 23 September, and 7 October 2020. In early November, the Government required travellers entering New Zealand to book a place in managed isolation prior to travelling to the country. In mid-December 2020, the Government announced plans to establish travel bubbles with the Cook Islands and Australia in 2021.
Following a community outbreak in South Auckland's Papatoetoe suburb on 14 February 2021, the Government placed an Alert Level 3 lockdown on Auckland and an Alert Level 2 lockdown over the rest of the country until 17 February. On 17 February, Auckland's lockdown was lowered to Alert Level 2 while the rest of the country reverted to Alert Level 1. On 22 February, the Government announced that Auckland would revert to Alert Level 1 on 22 February. Following new community cases that were connected to the Auckland February cluster, the Government placed an Alert Level 3 lockdown on Auckland and an Alert Level 2 lockdown over the rest of the country commencing 28 February 2021 for the next seven days.
Following a new community outbreak in Auckland in August 2021, the NZ Government reinstated Alert Level 4 restrictions on 17 August 2021. Due to rising cases in Auckland and parts of the North Island, the Government abandoned its elimination strategy while accelerating the country's vaccination rollout. The "alert level system" was subsequently replaced by the COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system"), which came into force on 3 December 2021. In addition, the Government launched a COVID-19 vaccination pass system, which came into effect on 16 November 2021. On 23 November, the Government passed the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Act 2021, which provided a legal framework for the "traffic light system" and vaccine mandates for certain occupations.
On 17 January 2022, the Government launched its vaccination rollout for children aged between five and 12 years. In late January, the Government also launched a three-stage plan to combat the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant based on contact tracing, testing and self-isolation. On 3 February, the Government also launched a five-stage plan to reopen New Zealand's borders throughout 2022. On 23 March, the Government eased several "traffic light" restrictions including limits on public gatherings, vaccine pass requirements, vaccine mandates for most occupations, and NZ COVID Tracer QR code scanning requirements. In May 2022, the Government also accelerated the reopening of the border for various work, visitor and student visa classes. In mid September 2022, the Government abolished the "traffic light system," ending most remaining COVID-19 mask, vaccine, and close contact isolation mandates and restrictions.
In mid October 2022, the Government scrapped several of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020's provisions including its powers to implement lockdowns, managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), border closures, vaccine passes and mandates. The Government however opted to retain the Act's provisions for seven-day isolation periods, mask use and border entry requirements until Parliament passed newer, general pandemic legislation. The Government also revoked the Epidemic Notice, signalling a shift from emergency management to long-term management of COVID-19. In addition, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed that the Government would hold a Royal Commission of Inquiry into its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Genome sequencing
During the further outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Auckland in August 2020, genome sequencing was noted as a "new tool" in the Government's strategy to manage the pandemic. Ashley Bloomfield said "we are also doing genome sequencing on all those who have tested positive and our recent cases and current cases in managed isolation and quarantine". A phylodynamics specialist said that compared to the first outbreak when only 25 people out of approximately 1000 were sequenced, "mapping the genetic sequences of the virus from confirmed COVID-19 cases in a bid to track its spread – is now an integral part of New Zealand's coronavirus response. It is providing greater certainty in identifying clusters and helps focus the investigations of contact tracers." Bloomfield said that sequencing will provide information about how the outbreak started and Jemma Geoghegan, a senior lecturer in viral evolution at the University of Otago who was working on genome sequencing with the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told Radio New Zealand:
By comparing the genomes of the new cases to those from the isolation facilities as well as the global population and the other cases in New Zealand, we can begin to understand how long that chain of transmission potentially is, and likely estimate when that virus emerged and first arrived into New Zealand.
When an Air New Zealand crew member tested positive for COVID-19 in November 2020, Joel de Ligt, a scientist at ESR, said that while he was reasonably confident the sequencing had provided a good picture of what was happening across the country, there was still a slight chance that there was something in the community not identified. Specific sequencing of the genomes of the air crew member would show whether it was linked to a New Zealand genome, or related to information from sequencing overseas, making it "more likely that it is what we call a travel-related infection, where we might start to look more in detail at the airports, or the airlines involved with the movements of a certain person." Geoghegan stressed the importance of genome sequencing in cases such as returning air crew, which was later used to demonstrate a case of in-flight transmission.
Local and regional governmental responses
On 20 March, the Auckland Council closed all public libraries, swimming pools, and recreational centres, including the Auckland Art Gallery and the New Zealand Maritime Museum.
On 21 March, several local body councils in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Lower Hutt and Porirua announced the closures of public facilities including swimming pools, libraries, recreation centres, community centres, art galleries, and museums.