The report was formally delivered to the Governor\u2011General this morning, with its public release scheduled for 10 March 2026 when it is presented to Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden acknowledged the scale of public engagement that helped shape the inquiry\u2019s expanded scope. \u201cThousands of Kiwis made their voices heard through submissions,\u201d she said, noting that many New Zealanders were dissatisfied with the narrow terms of reference set for the first phase of the inquiry by the previous Government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both the ACT\u2011National and New Zealand First\u2011National coalition agreements included commitments to broadening the inquiry. The expansion, announced in late 2024, directed the Commission to examine key decisions made during 2021 and 2022\u2014particularly the use of lockdowns and vaccine mandates, and whether their wider social, health, educational, and economic impacts were adequately considered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Velden stressed that the purpose of the inquiry is forward\u2011looking. \u201cIt is not simply about learning what the previous Government did wrong, it is about working out what we need to do right,\u201d she said. She noted that the social and financial consequences of the pandemic response continue to affect households and businesses, contributing to ongoing cost\u2011of\u2011living pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health Minister Simeon Brown, who will lead the Government\u2019s response to the report\u2019s recommendations, highlighted the scale of restrictions New Zealanders endured. \u201cKiwis remember not being able to visit loved ones in hospital, struggling to secure a managed isolation spot just to return home, and keeping their kids home from school for months on end,\u201d he said. Aucklanders, he added, experienced more than six months of cumulative lockdown\u2014the longest of any region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown said it is essential to understand why those decisions were made so future responses can better balance health protection with economic and social wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government and relevant agencies will now begin reviewing the Commission\u2019s findings ahead of a formal response later this year. The Royal Commission was originally established in December 2022 to identify lessons from New Zealand\u2019s pandemic response, with its scope expanded in 2024 to include a deeper examination of decision\u2011making during the Delta and Omicron periods. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Government has confirmed it has received the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID\u201119 Lessons, marking a significant milestone in New Zealand\u2019s review of its pandemic response. The report was formally delivered to the Governor\u2011General this morning, with its public release scheduled for 10 March 2026 when it is presented to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[658,542,114,113],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-10417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-new-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10420,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions\/10420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10417"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=10417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}