announced that the government would seek an urgent amendment to section 23 of the medicines act 1981 after the high court judge rebecca ellis ruled in favour of the ngai kaitiaki tuku ihu medical action society's contention that the government's approval of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine exceeded the powers of the medicines act. the medical action society had argued that this action would have undermined public trust in the vaccine and wasted vaccine stock already in use in new zealand. june 2021 on 9 june, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins announced that new zealand would receive 1 million doses of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine in july, bringing the total number of doses to more than 1.9 million. on 21 june, ardern announced that medsafe had given provisional approval for the pfizer/biontech covid-19 vaccine to be given to 12 to 15-year-olds. on 23 june, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins and bloomfield announced that the wellington region including the wairarapa and the kapiti coast would enter into an alert level 2 lockdown at 6pm after a sydney man travelled to the region while infected with the sars-cov-2 delta variant. the wellington regional lockdown is scheduled to last until 11:59 pm on 27 june. on 26 june, the new zealand government paused quarantine-free travel with all australian states and territories from 10:30 pm until 11:59 pm on 29 june 2021 in response to multiple cases and outbreaks in australia at varying levels. on 27 june, cabinet extended wellington's alert level 2 lockdown for 48 hours until 11:59 pm on 29 june. on 29 june, wellington moved down to level 1 at 11:59 pm. july 2021 ardern confirmed that the transtasman travel bubble pause with australia would be lifted for western australia and the northern territory from 11:59 pm on 9 july but would remain in place for queensland and new south wales. new zealanders stranded in australia would be able to return to new zealand from 11:59 pm on 9 july provided they meet a range of travel requirements. on 19 july, covid-19 response minister chris hipkins confirmed that the travel bubble pause with the australian state of victoria would be extended until at least 21 july after the state confirmed 13 new community cases and extended its lockdown. that same day, hipkins confirmed that a shipment of more than 370,000 pfizer vaccines had arrived in new zealand, allowing the rollout to begin ramping up after slowing down over the past month. on 23 july, ardern confirmed that the transtasman travel bubble with australia would be suspended from 11:59 pm that night for eight weeks due to the spread of the sars-cov-2 delta variant in several australian cities and states. new zealanders who return home from parts of australia other than new south wales before 11:59 pm on 30 july would not have to go into managed isolation; those returning later have to go into managed isolation. august 2021 on 11 august, the new zealand government designated fiji and indonesia as "very high risk" countries, restricting travel to new zealand citizens, their partners and children, and parents of dependent children who are new zealand citizens. on 12 august, ardern confirmed that new zealand would continue its elimination strategy indefinitely with plans for a "cautious, phased, reopening" of the country. in addition, the government announced plans to boost its vaccine rollout efforts and to allow vaccinated travellers from low-risk countries to skip quarantine and enter new zealand in 2021. on 17 august, ardern announced that new zealand would move to alert level 4 at 11:59 pm after a single community case was confirmed in auckland. under alert level 4, people are required to stay at home except for exercises and to access essential services like supermarkets, dairies, and healthcare. the country is expected to be at level 4 for a minimum of three days, while auckland and the coromandel peninsula remain on lockdown for seven days. health authorities also identified 23 locations of interest: 13 in the coromandel and 10 in auckland. on 18 august, ardern announced that it would be compulsory for everyone above the age of 12 to wear masks while using essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies, dairies, service stations, buses, and taxies from 11:59 pm that night. she described wearing a mask as "an act of care to the people around you." on 20 august, ardern announced that the whole country would remain at alert level 4 for seven days, until the end of tuesday 24 august. this development came in response to 11 new community cases in auckland and wellington. on 23 august 2021, ardern announced that all of new zealand will remain on alert level 4 until 11:59 pm on 27 august while auckland will remain on alert level 4 until 11:59 pm on 31 august. the government will review alert level settings for the country on 27 august while alert settings for auckland will be reviewed on 30 august. that same day, the government temporarily suspended the sitting of the new zealand parliament for one week on the advice of bloomfield. select committees will continue online. the suspension of parliament was criticised by national party leader judith collins and act party leader david seymour as undemocratic and an "overreach of power." labour, the greens and the opposition māori party proposed a virtual zoom parliament and question time but this was opposed by national covid-19 spokesperson chris bishop who argued that parliament should be able to go ahead if the prime minister was able to hold press conferences at level 4. bishop also claimed that a zoom parliament would not provide the "democratic accountability" provided by parliament sitting. on 24 august, finance minister grant robertson confirmed that 128,000 businesses had applied wage subsidies, with nz$484 million being paid out to date. the government has also given the inland revenue department (ird) discretion to give businesses extra time to pay provisional tax payments due to the august community outbreak. the government has also not ruled out reviving last year's covid income relief payment (cirp) scheme. on 27 august, ardern confirmed that new zealand will remain on alert level 4 until 11:59 pm on 31 august. while auckland and the northland region will remain on alert level 4 for at least two more weeks, the rest of the country will move into alert level 3 from 1 september 2021. on 30 august, the government hinted that the northland region's alert level could be lowered to alert level 3 at 11:59 pm on 2 september 2021 if wastewater testing confirmed no traces of covid-19. in late august, speaker trevor mallard confirmed that parliament would continue meeting under alert level 4 conditions with only ten mps and a small number of staff attending the debating chamber. while labour, national, the act, and green parties agreed to send mps, the māori party stated that it would not since it was unsafe. september 2021 on 6 september, ardern confirmed that all of new zealand except auckland will move to alert level 2 at 11:59pm on 7 september. however, new level 2 restrictions will be introduced including mandatory mask wearing at most public venues, recommended mask wearing for school students above the age of 12 years, a 50 person limit and two-metre space at indoor venues, and a 100 person limit at outdoor venues. on 13 september, ardern confirmed that auckland would remain on alert level 4 until 11:59 pm at 21 september. in addition, the rest of new zealand would remain on alert level 2 until at least 21 september. on 17 september, education minister chris hipkins confirmed that there would be no changes to end of the year school holiday dates across the country including auckland. on 20 september, ardern confirmed that auckland would move down to alert level 3 at 11:59 pm on 21 september while the rest of the country will remain on alert level 2. event limit restrictions were also relaxed for areas under level 2, with 100 people being allowed in indoor hospitality venues. in addition, a "bespoke" lockdown requirement was established in whakatīwai, waikato due to recent community cases there. in addition, ardern also reiterated the government's commitment to maintaining an elimination strategy. on 22 september, bloomfield confirmed that the whakatīwai region would be moving into alert level 3 with the rest of auckland due to the high level of testing and negative community cases within that region. on 27 september, ardern announced that the government would be launching a home isolation trial for 150 selected travellers. participants must be new zealand residents. in addition, ardern confirmed that the quarantine-free travel for pacific recognised seasonal employer workers from vanuatu, samoa, and tonga would resume in early october to address the agricultural and horticultural sectors' demand for migrant workers over the 2021–2022 summer period. on 27 september, health minister little announced a nz$400,000 funding boost for youth mental health services, with priority being given to the auckland and northland regions due to stress and anxiety among young people caused by the delta community outbreak the previous month. october 2021 on 3 october, ardern reinstated alert level 3 lockdown restrictions in several parts of waikato including raglan, huntly, ngāruawāhia and hamilton commencing midnight 4 october after two community cases were detected. on 4 october, ardern confirmed that new zealand's elimination strategy would be phased out in favour of a new model that takes into account the country's vaccination rates. that same day, ardern unveiled the government's three-stage strategy to move auckland out of lockdown, which involved a gradual relaxation of restrictions on physical gatherings and economic activities subject to mask-wearing and social distancing requirements. on 7 october, covid-19 response minister hipkins extended the waikato level 3 boundary extension to include more parts of the region including waitomo (including te kuiti), waipa, ōtorohanga, mōkau, the northern pureora forest park, te awamutu, karapiro and cambridge. on 8 october, alert level 3 restrictions were reinstated in the northland region after an auckland woman who tested positive for covid-19 used false information to obtain travel documents and spent several days in the region. on 11 october, auckland's level 3 lockdown was extended for another week, with students being asked not to return to class the following week. the government has indicated that alert level restrictions in waikato and northland will be lowered from alert level 3 to alert level 2 on 14 october at 11:59 pm. that same day, the government announced that health and disability workers will have to fully vaccinated by 1 december 2021 while all school and early childhood workers will have to be fully vaccinated by 1 january 2022. on 22 october, the government formally outlined its new covid-19 protection framework (also known as the "traffic light framework"), which consists of red, orange and green levels. this protection framework involves lowering public gathering and gathering distancing restrictions in accordance with national vaccination rates. on 26 october, ardern and workplace relations minister michael wood announced a new vaccine mandate requiring all workers in hospitality businesses, gyms, barbers, and hairdressers to get vaccinated within four weeks. on 28 october, covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that international arrivals will only have to isolate for seven days from 14 november in an effort to free up about 1,500 rooms a month. from 8 november, fully vaccinated travellers from low risk pacific island countries such as the cook islands will also be eligible for quarantine-free travel. november 2021 on 1 november, ardern announced that the waikato region would move down to step 2 of alert level 3 at 11:59 pm on 2 november. this allowed retailers to operate, with face masks and physical distancing; increased the limit of people at outdoor gatherings to 25; and removed the two-household restriction. auckland would move down to step 2 of alert level 3 at 11:59pm on 9 november. on 2 november, covid-19 response minister hipkins placed the northern part of the northland region under an alert level 3 lockdown after authorities were unable to find any epidemiological links for two community cases. far north district mayor john carter supported the lockdown, urging people to get tested and vaccinated. on 8 november, ardern announced that auckland would move down to step 2 of alert level 3 from 10 november. the far north district, which was put into