List Of Essential Services In NZ Lockdown

What are considered essential services during a New Zealand lockdown? Read on to learn more.

If you're not sure about what's considered essential work, look no further. Here's a quick guide about the NZ lockdown, including a list of essential workers and services.

Essential Workers

According to data from MBIE, the estimated number of essential service workers that are expected to report for work at Alert Level 4 is around 529,000. On the other hand, around 139,000 Kiwis are allowed to do their essential service from home.

So, who are considered essential workers?

According to MBIE data, here are the biggest essential workforce:

Workers in healthcare and social assistance
Workers in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry
Workers in manufacturing

While these essential workers are required to work and be on-site to perform their services, only a fraction of the total workers would be able to work as usual under Alert Level 4.

Essential Services

Knowing the options and services you can avail at a time like this is important. Currently, there are 14 types of essential services that can serve customers on-site, as listed below:

Supermarket, dairy, or food bank
Pharmacy
Liquor store
Petrol station
Self-service laundry
Hardware store (for trade customers only)
Health service 
Accommodation service
Court or tribunal
Social and community-based service that helps maintain critical wellbeing or provides crisis support
Emergency service
Parliamentary services
Transportation by road, air, rail, or sea
School hostel

Essential Businesses

Accommodation services such as hotels, boarding houses, tertiary student accommodation, campgrounds, etc.

Building, construction, and maintenance services - These services are only allowed to operate to address immediate risks to health and safety, or are building a nationally important infrastructure

Education - They're still required to do social distancing or online learning for primary and secondary education.)

Foreign government, including embassies, and other entities maintaining crucial operations at foreign missions based in New Zealand
Freight services
Fruit and vegetables retailers, butchers, and fishmongers (must be selling via contactless orders)
Government services - Only allowed if the service is a regulatory or social service, or has something to do with the Covid-19 response, or if it cannot reasonably be delayed
Health services
General practitioners (doctors)
Gasoline stations, supermarkets, self-service laundries, dairies, pharmacies, food banks
Justice sector (Courts of New Zealand and Tribunals.)
Key utilities - Businesses that supply (or dispose of) utilities such as electricity, gas, water, wastewater, waste, fuel, and telecommunications
Parliamentary services
Primary industries like food and beverage processing and production, and veterinary services
Retail stores - Only allowed if it's via online orders for essential consumer products. Customers are not allowed to enter their premises.
Scientific services
Security services
Social services
School hostels
Services for deceased persons
Transport and logistics

Food delivery services
Hardware stores - Only allowed to give service to customers working to help maintain other essential services

Key communications - News, media, and delivery newspapers (non-English)

Pest management
Businesses or services needed to help maintain other businesses operating at alert level 4
Pulp and paper plants
Residential care services.

Whether you're an essential worker or are just planning to go out for a quick errand, remember to follow these practices:

Practice social distancing (at least two meters apart from other people)
Wear a mask at all times
Sanitize your hands and things
Use the Covid-19 tracer app

You can also avoid going out by buying things and paying bills online, including your utilities. If you're not happy with your current provider and are looking for a better plan, you can easily do so in just a few clicks!