The Department of Internal Affairs

Te Tari Taiwhenua | Department of Internal Affairs

Building a safe, prosperous and respected nation



 

Covid-19 Local Government Response Unit Update – Friday 3 December 2021

Local Government Response Unit main page

Updated “Frequently Asked Questions” document

We have updated the Frequently Asked Questions document to incorporate recent questions received from local government. This document is available here: Frequently Asked Questions 3 December 2021 (PDF, 570KB)

Some questions received from the sector are still being processed. We will update the Frequently Asked Questions document over time to include these questions.

Additional information on the COVID-19 Protection Framework is available below for your reference. 

Thank you for your ongoing patience and support through this fast moving and challenging legislative environment.

If you have feedback on the guidance, please sent it through the LGCGcovid19response@dia.govt.nz inbox.

Epidemic notice remains in force

The Epidemic notice was renewed from 19 September 2021 and will remain in place for three months.

More information of the provisions in the notice are outlined in previous Response Unit updates, which can be viewed on the Local Government Response Unit webpage. We understand that the notice will be renewed before expiry.

Requirements to check and verify Vaccine Passes

CVCs (COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates) should be sighted as soon as possible after people enter the premises – e.g. the waiter at the table, server at the counter/bouncer at the door. The check does not have to be at point of entry, though this is ideal and should be encouraged.

PCBUs (“Persons in control of the business or undertaking”) are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure that each person (including workers) who enters the premises is CVC compliant – this means verifying some attendees with the app.

  • The extent to which this is undertaken at each venue will vary. For example, at large venues where it is impractical to verify every My Vaccine Pass, a sample could be verified through spot checking.

PCBUs can exercise their judgement as to whether a child is younger than 12 years and 3 months and therefore does not need a My Vaccine Pass. The obligation on them is to be reasonable in their judgement.

  • They could, for example, ask the child how old they are, for their birth date or for their school ID.

Information on current cases, COVID-19 test sites and economic support

There are 92 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today. These cases include 80 in Auckland, two in Waikato, one in Northland, five in Bay of Plenty, one in Lakes DHB, one in Nelson-Marlborough and two in Taranaki.

There were 39,553 total vaccine doses administered yesterday, including 8,600 first doses and 16,641 second doses. To date, 93% of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 87% are fully vaccinated.

Available testing sites can be found on the Ministry of Health website: Available testing sites.

Locations of interest can be found at Locations of Interest. This is being updated as soon as information is available.

Economic assistance is available for those impacted by the lockdown, more information available on the COVID-19 website , including details of the Business Boost package.

COVID-19 Protection Framework guidance for local government

We have created guidance on implementing the COVID-19 Protection Framework for local government.

This guidance is available at Local-Government-Covid-Protection-Framework-guidance.pdf (dia.govt.nz).

This guidance has been created in collaboration with a group of chief executives on creating guidance for the implementation of the COVID-19 Protection Framework.

If you have feedback on this guidance, please sent it through the LGCGcovid19response@dia.govt.nz inbox.

Please share with us your approaches towards the COVID-19 Protection Framework

We would like to know how councils are implementing the COVID-19 Protection Framework in their organisations and communities. This will help us to collate information, and build a resource that will assist consistency of application across the sector (shared approach) and inform our ongoing guidance development.

If you would like to share your council’s thinking and application of the new protection framework, please email them to us at LGCGcovid19response@dia.govt.nz.