Covid 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern - New Zealanders will notice difference at level 3

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Although life under alert level 3 may not look much different to the farming community, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are changes that will affect all Kiwis.

Tomorrow, the Government will provide details on what New Zealanders can expect when and if the country goes back to alert level 3.

Ardern told The Country's Jamie Mackay there would be more detail on access to goods and services "beyond essential" which both urban or rural New Zealanders would be interested in.

"I know that there have been areas where certain things have been a little bit hard to get hold of so I know they will probably be looking out for that detail tomorrow as well."

Ardern also said she was unable to give away too much information about alert level 3 changes, but disagreed with Mackay's suggestion that it looked "level 4 lite" so far.

"When you've been at ... level 4 which is highly restrictive, I think people will definitely notice the differences at level 3. But it is fair to say, it does really still curtail as much of that one-on-one contact that we can prevent.

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"There are differences for workplaces and so that's what I think a lot of people are looking for - what difference will it mean for them, their economy, their work - so we'll be providing more detail on that tomorrow."

The Prime Minister was also quick to quash suggestions that New Zealand could be looking at up to 12 months in level 2 or level 1 lockdown conditions.

"That is totally speculative, we've made no decisions like that at all."

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

The Government's strategy of "going hard and going early" was to "get down to a place sooner than others where we can lift as many restrictions on people as possible" said Ardern, who compared Australia's approach to Covid-19 as an example.

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"Some people have said, look, they've got more freedoms than us right now. But they're also talking about being at the level they're at for quite a long time and of course, what they're experiencing at the moment isn't very normal. So we do have some differences in the way we're approaching things."

Although at level 2, people would still have to be mindful of things such as social distancing and mass gatherings "for as long as covid is with us", Adern stressed the Government's goal was always to "get back to as much as normality as possible - as soon as we safely can."

Also in today's interview: Ardern discussed Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter's plan to widen footpaths and create more cycleways, and talked about how ministers were doing "a huge amount of work" behind the scenes.