Religious gathering rules clarif ied

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says police will be continuing to talk to religious leaders after police’s enforcement approach to religious gatherings during alert level 2 was clarified yesterday.

It comes as one new Covid-19 case was recorded, a household contact linked to the St Margaret’s Rest Home and Hospital cluster in Auckland.

Police confirmed they would be approaching potential breaches of level 2 in places of worship with ‘‘empathy’’ . While gatherings of more than 10 people were not allowed, religious worship can now include larger congregations as long as groups of 10 or less remain 2 metres apart from others.

Contact tracing systems are also required.

Robertson said the Government was classifying religious services as gatherings. ‘‘The intent of the rules is very clear. We do not want gatherings of more than 10 people.

‘‘Most churches and religious organisations wouldn’t be able to fulfil any requirement [for that]. Really, what we’re asking here is that our religious leaders and the police work together to fulfil that intent.

‘‘In terms of the Cabinet, we’re going to be moving on Monday to have our first discussion about whether we can increase the size of gatherings and I think as long as we continue along the trajectory we are on ... we should be able to move quickly,’’ Robertson said.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield reminded people the maximum group number was 10 for now – and this included church and faith-based gatherings.

On the economy, Robertson confirmed almost 50,000 applications have been made as part of the Government’s small business loan scheme.

The country was also witnessing increased economic activity at level 2. ‘‘Total retail spending in the week of the 17th of May – which was a mixture of both level 3 and level 2 – was 11 per cent below 2019 levels.

‘‘Now, while this is obviously still less than normal, it’s a significant pick-up from the 90 per cent reduction in retail spending in the April and May periods,’’ he said.

The Government’s NZ Covid Tracer contact tracing app has recorded 293,000 registrations, with the Ministry of Health continuing to encourage New Zealanders to download it.