New Zealand Covid elimination strategy to be phased out, Ardern says

Prime minister says the use of vaccines means country now has more options' on how to control virus

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New Zealand's elimination strategy will be phased out in favour of a new model that takes into account vaccination rates, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, as she laid out a three-stage road-map" to transition Auckland out of its lockdown.

Elimination was important because we didn't have vaccines," Ardern said. Now we do, so we can begin to change the way we do things. We have more options, and there's good cause for us to feel optimistic about the future, but we cannot rush.