Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Associate Minister for COVID-19 Response) on behalf of the Minister for COVID-19 Response: Yes. The changes announced last week, informed by the latest evidence from here and overseas, have been specifically designed to make life simpler and closer to normal while retaining the things that have proven effective in reducing the spread of the virus, like face masks, testing and isolation, and capacity limits in the highest risk settings. Our response has and will continue to focus on protecting those groups who face a disproportionate effect from this virus, including Māori, Pasifika, immune compromised, and disability. I know hearing about reports of deaths can be confronting and, of course, reflect a loss for the affected whānau. And I would note that while deaths linked to COVID in New Zealand have, sadly, been rising at this stage, a comparison of death rates between two countries based on a single day is not a useful comparison given our different stages in an Omicron outbreak. New Zealand's daily death rate per million remains five times lower than the US at its peak in late 2020, and four times lower than the US's more recent Omicron peak in February. The United States has now had almost 1 million people die from COVID-19. New Zealand's total mortality per capita is still one of the lowest in the OECD.