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.

You can find the latest information and guidance about Alert Levels at
[1]https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
The locations of interest are set out
at [2]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 [3]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 [4]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
about the financial support available to individuals and businesses can be
found at [5]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 [6]https://www.miq.govt.nz/, including how to request an emergency
allocation
at [7]https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
make a complaint or request a review of your application by
emailing [8]https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us....
o Travel with Australia
at [9]https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
you are in Australia, please register
at [10]https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/ and if it is an emergency,
contact the Consulate on +64 99 20 20 20.
o Vaccines at [11]https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/, including
how to book your vaccine
at [12]https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/... by calling 0800 28
29 26.
o Vaccine data and statistics
at [13]https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
Medsafe’s vaccine safety monitoring reports
at [14]https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
o The Government’s plan to reconnect New Zealand with the rest of the
world
at [16]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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References

Visible links
1. https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and...
2. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
3. https://www.healthpoint.co.nz/covid-19/
4. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
5. https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-mon...
6. https://www.miq.govt.nz/
7. https://www.miq.govt.nz/travel-to-new-ze...
8. https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/contact-us...
9. https://covid19.govt.nz/travel/quarantin...
10. https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/
11. https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/
12. https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/
13. https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/dise...
14. https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/vac...
15. file:///C:/Users/TasolaM/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/556O8F80/Updated%20Document1.docx
16. https://covid19.govt.nz/reconnecting-new...

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Dear G Sharma,

Please find attached letter from Hon Chris Hipkins in response to your email of 21 October 2021.

Kind regards,

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

-----Original Message-----
From: G Sharma [mailto:[FOI #17293 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 21 October 2021 1:37 PM
To: C Hipkins (MIN) <[Chris Hipkins request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - Why India, Pakistan, Brazil are still in VHR whereas Covid Ravaged UK, USA and few other countries are in Green list - Ref: OIA0401

Dear Chris Hipkins,

I noted India, Pakistan, Brazil etc. were rightly added to VHR countries because it was a right thing to do 6 months ago when these countries were in the middle of an uncontained outbreak.

Later "Fiji and Indonesia" were also promptly added to the VHR list as well

Now from last 3-4 months Covid-19 has largely been contained specifically in India and Pakistan and there is no review about it despite a briefing on it in July with a recommendation of moving India, Pakistan and Brazil to HR (#12 in briefing paper)

https://covid19.govt.nz/assets/Proactive...

3 months since the above mentioned briefing and the daily cases of specifically India and Pakistan are now even lower, in-fact per capita basis much lower than NZ as well, but no review or change in sight. ​

At the same time UK and USA per capita are experiencing Enormous and ever increasing outbreak, even now with a new variant of Covid so my OIA request is for

1: Is there any new review, briefing and decision imminent in regards to recategorising currently VHR countries based on the current status of daily cases?

2: Are their any ongoing review or briefing presented to the cabinet to include UK and other developed countries with current daily high number of cases?

Yours faithfully,

G Sharma

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

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[FOI #17293 email]

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