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Restrictions justified: court

Limits on the size of religious gatherings due to Covid-19 restrictions were justified, a judge has decided.

Two groups of churches and mosques claimed a Covid-19 public health response order that took effect late last year was unlawful for breaching their rights to manifest their religious belief.

The order limited gatherings depending on whether attendees had Covid vaccination certificates and what level of the Government’s traffic light response system was in place.

Until April, when the Covid vaccination certificate restriction was dropped, fewer people could attend if not all had vaccination certificates.

The religious groups’ claims were against the minister for Covid-19 response and the director-general of health.

The two groups did not have identical grounds for challenging the public health response order, but were heard together.

In a judgment issued from the High Court in Wellington on Tuesday, Justice Cheryl Gwyn decided that, while the order did limit and restrict rights, the measures were a justified limit and continued to be justified even after the Omicron variant was circulating.

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2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

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