Kia ora

 

Thank you for taking the time to write to Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for
COVID-19 Response, Minister of Education, Minister for the Public Sector
and Leader of the House.

We are receiving a significant amount of correspondence at the moment and,
although your email will be carefully considered and noted, it is not
possible to respond to each individual email. However, please note that
this is an automatic response and we will endeavour to respond to your
individual queries as soon as we can.

All parts of New Zealand south of the Auckland boundary moved to Alert
Level 3 at 11.59pm Tuesday 31 August 2021. This setting will remain in
place for one week and Cabinet will review this decision on Monday 6
September 2021.

Auckland will remain at Alert Level 4 for a further two weeks. Cabinet
will meet on Monday 13 September 2021 to review the Alert Level setting
for Auckland.

Northland is expected to remain at Alert Level 4 until 11.59pm Thursday 2
September 2021. Cabinet will review the Alert Level setting for Northland
later this week.

Information about Alert Level 3 is available
at [1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
about Alert Level 4
at [2]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and....
Advice about travel can be found
at [3]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise....

The locations of interest are set out
at [4]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
encourage anyone who has been at one of the locations of interest at the
time specified to self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453. You
can find the nearest testing centre to you
at [5]https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/.

We appreciate that this is a challenging time. If you need to talk, you
can call or text 1737 at any time. Mental health and wellbeing resources
are also available
at [6]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
about the financial support available to individuals and businesses can be
found at [7]https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-mon....

We also understand that there are several other aspects to the response
that are very important to people. You can find more information about:

o Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ)
at [8]https://www.miq.govt.nz/, including how to request an emergency
allocation
at [9]https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
make a complaint or request a review of your application by
emailing [10]https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us....
o Travel with Australia
at [11]https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
you are in Australia, please register
at [12]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ and if it is an emergency,
contact the Consulate on +64 99 20 20 20.
o Vaccines at [13]https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/, including
how to book your vaccine
at [14]https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/... by calling 0800 28
29 26.
o Vaccine data and statistics
at [15]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
Medsafe’s vaccine safety monitoring reports
at [16]https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
o The Government’s plan to reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the
world
at [18]https://covid19.govt.nz/reconnecting-new....

Please remember to take care, and be kind. We have beaten COVID-19 before,
and we can do it again.

Ngā mihi,

Office of Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the
Public Sector | Leader of the House | MP for Remutaka

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Kia ora Miriam

Thank you for your email received 26 September 2021 in which you submitted a request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for COVID-19 Response. You have requested:

“... Why are car registration details taken at the time of getting a covid test? The lovely lady who took my details (NHI, dob etc) also took my car registration when questioned it was said that’s just in case there’s are two cars that are the same."

I can confirm that the COVID-19 testing teams have two different stations - the first area is to "triage" where they take all the information of the people requiring testing and then the "testing" station. When the team triage people in the car, they write down the registration number as well as their name(s) and other details to enable to the testing team to be able to correctly and quickly identify in which car the next person to be tested is in (otherwise they would have to walk from car to car to find the correct person). The testing teams work hard to ensure that the testing process is as quick and efficient for everyone involved.

I hope that this information is helpful.

Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at [email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.

Ngā mihi

Lydia Verschaffelt | Health Private Secretary
Office of Hon Chris Hipkins
Minister for COVID-19 Response | Minister of Education | Minister for the Public Service | Leader of the House
Parliament Buildings, Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

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