Pursuant to clause 15 of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Air Border) Order (No 2) 2020 (“Order”), I, Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for COVID-19 Response, having taken into account the advice of the Director-General of Health, hereby declare that the following persons:

• medical attendants who are employed or engaged by the New Zealand Air Ambulance Service Ltd;
• who are ordinarily resident in New Zealand; and
• who have travelled to, or from, one of the following places while assisting, as a medical attendant, with a medical air transfer to, or from, New Zealand:
  • Cook Islands
  • Fiji
  • Samoa
  • Niue
  • Tonga
  • Vanuatu
  • New Caledonia
  • American Samoa
  • Tahiti
  • Tokelau
  • Tuvalu
  • Kiribati

who satisfy the following criteria:

• they have taken all reasonable steps to minimise the risk of an outbreak, or the spread of, COVID-19 including by maintaining physical distancing (to the greatest extent possible) and wearing personal protective equipment at all times (to the greatest extent practicable);

are exempt from clause 8(3) of the Order.

The exemption will begin at 11.59pm on 13 December 2020. This exemption expires at 11.59pm on 31 June 2021.

Dated at Wellington this 11th day of December 2020.

Hon CHRIS HIPKINS, Minister for COVID-19 Response.