reassure members of these communities that they would not lose their jobs due to contracting covid-19. following the delta community outbreak in mid–august 2021, the new zealand nurses organisation (nzno) expressed concerned about the mental and physical health of nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants; insufficient ppe supplies and a lack of mask fit-testing. in mid-september 2021, the nzno challenged the auckland district health board's "free-for-all" visitor policy through the employment relations authority. the nzno argued that the health board's policy of allowing two visitors during the delta outbreak posed a health risk to patients and staff. in october 2021, pharmac negotiated an agreement with supplier merck sharp & dohme (msd) to purchase the experimental antiviral pill molnupiravir. if approved by medsafe, pharmac will be supplied with 60,000 courses of the pill, which would be used to treat new zealanders with mild to moderate covid-19 symptoms. in november, pharmac secured 500 doses of baricitinib, an oral tablet that improves outcomes for hospitalised patients and purchased ronapreve (also known as regeneron), a monoclonal antibody. from september 2021, the ministry of health began allocating funding to district health boards to the support in isolation/quarantine (siq) programme with the goal of establishing local quarantine facilities to accommodate those who could not isolate at home in " community-based bubbles." the siq programme was established in response to rising community cases and plans to reopen the border in 2022. new zealand has announced a progressive reopening of its borders as it begins to ease some of the world's most stringent covid regulations. vaccinated australian nationals will be able to return home on 27 february without having to go through the state's required hotel quarantine. jabbed nationals from other countries will be allowed in starting 13 march, according to prime minister jacinda ardern. people will still be required to self-isolate for 10 days, but they will be able to do so at home. in mid october 2021, the health ministry allocated nz$120,000 to the wairarapa district health board to establish local siq facilities. in addition, other district health boards including the taranaki district health board, the auckland district health board, the southern district health board, and the whanganui district health board have made preparations to establish their own siq facilities at various repurposed hotels and holiday parks. on 17 february 2022, laboratory workers, contact tracers and other critical health staff affiliated with the public service association (psa) voted to reject a pay offer from the district health boards and to strike twice in march 2022. the workers have demanded higher pay, equal treatment with other health professions, and safe staffing and retention. union spokesperson will matthews stated that the planned strikes came after 15 months of failed negotiations with the district health boards. in mid-february 2022, the institute of medical laboratory science, the national representative body for laboratory workers, reported that many workers were burnt out from operating under poor conditions for the past two years of the covid-19 pandemic. workers complained about insufficient office and recreation space due to extra testing machinery within their laboratories. in mid-may 2022, 10,000 allied health workers went on strike across new zealand following failed negotiations with dhbs over pay and working conditions. the psa's strike action was supported by the association of salaried medical specialists (asms), the new zealand dental association (nzda) and the nz council of trade unions (ctu). in early june 2022, the dunedin hospital was closed to visitors following an outbreak of covid-19 within its wards. economic impact main article: economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic in new zealand two cruise ships—celebrity solstice and azamara journey—in port chalmers on 15 march up until march 2020, new zealand ran a mixed economy – a free market with some state ownership and control. although somewhat abruptly sidelined from their normal influence within the new zealand economy, representatives of the business sector continued to feature in media reporting: lobbying against perceived discrepancies in various industries, publicising habitual evaluations such as business-confidence indicators and economic outlooks, and itching for an early return to "business as usual". on 17 september 2020, new zealand economy officially entered into a recession, with the country's gross domestic product contracting by 12.2% in the june quarter due to the covid-19 pandemic. the retail, accommodation, hospitality, and transportation sectors were adversely affected by the international travel ban and a strict nationwide lockdown. social impact the covid-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on new zealand society, with significant implications for education, faith communities, holidays, māori, mass gatherings, sports and recreational activities. reports about the spread of covid-19 led to a high demand for face masks and hand sanitisers. education following the spread of covid-19 at several schools, the government closed all schools, early childhood centers and universities on 23 march 2020 as part of the implementation of a nationwide lockdown. in addition, on 13 may, the end-of-year high school national certificate of educational achievement (ncea) external exams were postponed to mid november 2020. several universities drew criticism for continuing to charge rent to students who had returned home to their families. faith communities in response to the entry of covid-19 into new zealand, several faith communities announced that they would be suspending or reducing public gatherings in responds to the government's ban on gatherings with more than 100 people. due to the closure of butcheries under alert level 4, members of the muslim community faced difficulty accessing halal food. when the lockdown level was first lowered to alert level 2 on 14 may, religious gatherings were initially limited to ten persons, which drew criticism from the federation of islamic associations of new zealand (fianz), catholic bishops, and bishop brian tamaki of destiny church. following criticism, the government raised the limit on religious services from ten to 100 persons, allowing many faith communities to resume mass gatherings. in september 2020, christian leaders pacific response coordination team chairman pakilau manase lua and wesleyan methodist minister frank ritchie expressed concern about misinformation relating to covid-19 circulating among new zealand congregants attending churches with links to conservative evangelical and pentecostal churches in the united states. māori in response to the covid-19 pandemic, māori communities in the northland, east cape, and bay of plenty regions of the north island established road blocks to limit the spread of the virus. these checkpoints generated some communal tensions and were considered unauthorised by the government and new zealand police, which challenged their authority. following a new community outbreak in auckland in late january 2021, northland māori including reuben taipari and veteran politician hone harawira established an unauthorised checkpoint, which was shut down by the police. mass gatherings due to the covid-19 pandemic, mass gatherings were discouraged to comply with social distancing measures to combat the virus. in response, the royal new zealand returned and services' association suspended all anzac day service and red poppy collections for 2020. following the murder of george floyd in may 2020, which sparked global protests, black lives matter protests were held in several major centers including auckland, wellington and christchurch in early june 2020. these protests were criticised by several health and political figures including siouxsie wiles, prime minister jacinda ardern, deputy prime minister winston peters, and act party leader david seymour for flouting social distancing restrictions. in addition, anti-lockdown protests occurred between august and september 2020. due to border and social distancing restrictions caused by covid-19, several sports and recreational events including the super rugby season and the 2020 warbirds over wanaka airshow were suspended in mid-march 2020. following a new community outbreak in south auckland in mid february 2021, the halberg awards were postponed to comply with alert level 3 restrictions on mass gatherings. in addition, napier's art deco festival and auckland's gay pride parade were cancelled. auckland's splore festival was postponed to 26–28 march 2021. in february 2022, on the grounds of new zealand's parliament, police gave trespass notices to anti-vaccine protestors who had spent two nights illegally camped. more than 50 were arrested. pacific islanders left-wing blogger martyn "bomber" bradbury has advocated that the government declare an amnesty for overstayers and provide compensation payments to people unable to work from home in order to help the pacific islander communities in south auckland. travel the covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on travel to and from new zealand. in 2020, the new zealand government worked with airlines and tour agencies to repatriate new zealanders stranded at various overseas locations including china, peru, australia, uruguay, fiji, and india. on 24 march, the foreign minister winston peters estimated there were 80,000 new zealanders stranded overseas, of whom 17,000 had registered with the ministry of foreign affairs and trade's "safe travel" programme. following a rapid surge in covid-19 cases in india in april 2021, many new zealand citizens and temporary visa holders living there were stranded due to border restrictions and flight cancellations. the covid-19 pandemic also affected many foreign travellers and temporary visa holders in new zealand. due to travel restrictions caused by covid-19, the new zealand government automatically extended all temporary visas until 25 september 2020, which was later extended to february 2021. in addition, the government also extended emergency welfare support including financial support for living expenses to stranded migrant workers and other temporary visa holders unable to leave new zealand. despite border restrictions, the government granted visa exemptions for certain critical and essential workers as well as people attending the trial of the christchurch mosque shooter brenton tarrant and a british family seeking to sell their yacht following the death of their son. several foreign governments including the united kingdom, germany, and denmark also organised charter flights to repatriate citizens stranded in new zealand. in addition, international airlines like lufthansa and qatar airways were also involved in facilitating repatriation flights from new zealand. by 13 may, foreign minister peters confirmed that 50,000 migrant workers had returned to their home countries following efforts by the new zealand government and foreign embassies to organise repatriation flights. on 9 may 2021, radio new zealand and stuff reported that the government had spent nz$6 million to repatriate new zealanders who had been stranded overseas at various locations including wuhan, india and peru since the start of the pandemic. on 28 may 2021, it was also reported that the government had spent $112,000 out of a $900,000 allocation to repatriate migrants who could not afford flight tickets back to their home countries during the pandemic. in addition, the government had spent $11 million on attracting migrants during the pandemic. in addition, the government had spent $242 million in february 2021 to address a deficit in immigration's visa account finances, which still left a $56 million deficit. on 11 august 2021, the strategic covid-19 public health advisory group led by professor david skegg advocated that the country should take a phased approach towards reopening its border in 2022 provided that a majority of new zealanders had been vaccinated. under proposed plans, travellers could avoid going into managed isolation based on risk factors such as their vaccination status and the state of the pandemic in their country of origin. other proposals include pre-departure testing for travellers and rapid testing for travellers upon entry to new zealand. following the delta community outbreak in mid–august 2021, the police were criticised by northland māori iwi and leaders including former politician hone harawira for waiting more than a week to erect fixed checkpoints between northland and auckland after the country moved into an alert level 4 lockdown. the level 4 announcement on 17 august had triggered an influx of people from auckland into the northland region. other northland residents criticised inconsistency in the location of police checkpoints near the brynderwyn hills, kaiwaka and mangawhai which inhibited travel by residents to access essential services like groceries. in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant, the government delayed the planned reopening of the country's border to february 2022, boosted pre-departure test requirements, and extended the stay at managed isolation and quarantine (miq) facilities by ten days. on 3 february 2022, ardern announced a five-stage plan for reopening the country's borders: from 11.59pm on 27 february, new zealanders and other eligible travellers from australia would be allowed to self-isolate for ten days. from 11.59pm on 13 march, new zealanders and other eligible overseas travellers including skilled workers