All of New Zealand, beyond the boundaries to the north and south of Auckland, will move to level two at 11:59 pm Tomorrow, Tuesday, the 7th of September.

Schools and other education providers will be given the next 48 hours to prepare to reopen from Thursday morning.

Cabinet will review the levels for the whole country, including Auckland next Monday.

The Prime Minister said” “level two will be different to how it’s been before.

“As I’ve said many times delta has changed the game, so in order to beat it, we’ve had to adapt our game plan.”

Face coverings are now mandatory in Alert Level 2.

She said “that means whenever you’re inside most public venues, so if you’re entering a retail shop or an indoor facility, like a mall or a library, you must wear a mask. However, of course, you can take your mask off and hospitality venues like restaurants, bars, and cafes so that of course you can eat and drink.”

Staff at these venues and any other public-facing businesses open at level two must wear face coverings, as well.

“But to keep it really simple. If you’re out and about visiting indoor venues please wear a mask.”

“We’ve learned the hard way that delta is at least twice as transmissible as previous strains of the virus and that travels through the essentially through the air rather than droplets or contact. That is why wearing masks is so important, and our new normal at level two.”

“We also have some new rules on scanning and these have been shared previously, but I want to speak to them again. We want people scanning everywhere they go. But there are some places, this isn’t just an ask. It’s now a rule.”

“This includes bars, restaurants, cinemas nightclubs concerts churches, and close contact business businesses like hairdressers, that’s where you either have to scan or there has to be record-keeping, essentially places where there as close contact between people, where it’s had to wear a mask and we the virus can easily spread.”

“It also means that if you’re at places like private events there must be a record kept of people attending.”

“But even in places you are not legally required to scan and my advice is of course do it anyway.”