At at 11:59pm on Tuesday 17 August 2021, all of New Zealand moved into COVID-19 Alert Level 4 for a period of three days. The Auckland and Coromandel regions, currently most closely linked to the outbreak, will staying at Alert Level 4 for at least seven days. The confirmation of the Delta variant and a further 6 cases (at last count) makes extensions of lockdown periods highly likely.
FAR and
other Primary Sector groups were briefed by MPI Minister Damian O’Connor and
Director General Ray Smith this morning. They emphasised the highly
transmissible nature of the Delta variant and asked that all Primary Sector
employers take maximum steps to protect themselves and their staff from the
disease.
Physical
distancing remains set at a minimum of 2 metres, Delta can be spread from a
distance of 8 metres.
The best
source of information around operating at Level 4 is on the Covid website.
Federated
Farmers have developed an Essential Worker Travel Document template that can be
given to staff who are required to travel for work. You can find it here.
All FAR events through until the end of Tuesday
24 August have been postponed or cancelled. Decisions regarding events
scheduled to occur from Wednesday 25 onwards will be made early next week when
we have a clearer idea of the national situation.
All FAR
staff are working from home, and can be contacted via cell phone, email or the Contact page on the FAR website.