History and role
In December 2020 the COVID-19 Group was established as a business unit of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), continuing the work of the National Crisis Management Centre following the centre's deactivation on 30 June 2020.
The Group acted as a central COVID-19 response function responsible for oversight, integration and coordination across the response system as a whole. The Group was responsible for assurance to Ministers and the identification of opportunities for continuous improvement in New Zealand’s response.
It delivered the following functions:
- Policy and strategy – leadership and coordination of the overarching strategy for response and recovery, and coordination and integration of advice on readiness and response activities across agencies.
- System response, readiness, and planning – coordination and convening delivery agencies to ensure alignment of planning activities (including resurgence planning).
- Insights and reporting – drawing on research and evaluation (domestic and international) to ensure continuous improvement of the system.
- Risk and assurance – assurance that the right work is happening across government, in the right sequence and the appropriate place.
- Communications and engagement – leadership and coordination of public communications (including the Unite Against COVID-19 campaign), and coordination of stakeholder engagement (including business and community sectors).
In accordance with the decision made by Cabinet in December 2020, the Group’s strategic priorities were to:
- Provide assurance to ministers that the COVID-19 system is saving lives, protecting the economy and supporting social cohesion.
- Provide assurance that the COVID-19 system is sustainable, agile and improving.
- Ensure the public understands the response.
Transition of COVID-19 functions from DPMC to the Health system
The DPMC COVID-19 Group played an important role in ensuring a centralised, coordinated all of Government approach to our response and throughout 2022/23 worked to ensure the system continued to deliver and meet Ministerial expectations as it was reconfigured to support the new settings.
As our response to COVID-19 evolved in 2022 we moved to a greater emphasis on responsibility lying with sectors and individuals to manage COVID-19. In addition, the health system reforms meant that many of the COVID-19 functions that had resided in the Ministry of Health had moved to new entities by 1 July 2022.
In June 2022 the Chief Executive COVID-19 All-of-Government Response led an analysis of existing systems functions and governance structures with a view to transitioning the then centralised all-of-government response led by DPMC to a more orthodox governance and operating model over the course of 2022/23.
Over the course of 2022/23 the Group's functions transferred to Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) and Manatū Hauora (the Ministry of Health), who are responsible for the ongoing coordination of the COVID-19 response.
The functions of System Response, Readiness and Planning along with Insights and Reporting (including modelling, and geospatial analysis) transitioned to the Public Health Agency of Manatū Hauora on 31 October 2022.
On 16 November 2022, the COVID-19 Communications and Public Engagement work transitioned to Manatū Hauora – Ministry of Health and Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, including responsibility for the Unite Against COVID-19 website and social media channels, which are now run by Te Whatu Ora.
The COVID-19 Group's Policy and Strategy coordination function transitioned to Manatū Hauora, on 29 March 2023, thereby concluding DPMCs formal role in the COVID-19 response.
Timeline of Aotearoa New Zealand’s significant events and key All-of-Government activities
A timeline covering the period from January2020 to October2022 that captures significant events and key All-of-Government (AoG) and public sector activities that contributed to Aotearoa New Zealand’s response to the pandemic.
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Printing tips:
The timeline is best printed on A3 paper. For the printing properties, we suggest printing in colour on A3 paper with a portrait orientation and 2 sided printing turned off. In the page sizing and handling settings, we advise using the poster style with a tile scale of 90% and an overlap of 0.00 inches.
Further information
- COVID-19 proactive releases
- Te Whatu Ora website
- MoH website
- Healthline: For COVID-19 health advice call 0800 358 5453
