New Zealand will remain at the Red traffic light setting for at least 10 more days despite falling case numbers in parts of the country.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the country would remain at the current setting yesterday afternoon.
Although case numbers had been falling in some parts of the country, such as Auckland, Wellington and Gisborne, public health advice was that it was not the time to put parts of the country into the Orange setting, she said.
The settings would be considered again on April 14, just before the Easter holiday and school holidays.
"I want New Zealand to be living as normal a life as possible, but we want to move carefully."
She acknowledged there was an eagerness from some quarters to move to the Orange setting, but there was still pressure on the national hospital network.
"With the wave moving down the country still, we need to be mindful of the pressure on health care nationally.
"We also need to help the system recover and be ready for the expected winter surge."
The best way for people to help support health workers was to get a Covid-19 booster shot, Ms Ardern said.
There were 900,000 people in the country who were eligible to get a booster who had not yet received one.
Before yesterday’s announcement, there had been some calls for certain regions to drop to a lower setting.
Covid-19 modeller Prof Michael Plank said if the trends in Auckland were to continue, a shift to Orange would be reasonable.
Speaking after the announcement, University of Otago epidemiologist Prof Michael Baker said the cautious approach had served New Zealand well throughout the pandemic.
"I think it’s really paid off in terms of minimising illness and deaths from the virus.
"I’d also say the evidence is really very compelling internationally that protecting public health also protects the economy."
He backed the decision to stay at the Red setting, despite falling cases in Auckland.
"Auckland’s now about just below 15% of its peak today in terms of numbers, but that’s still a lot of cases and those people are a huge drain on primary care."
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 remained high, which was still interfering with elective procedures, he said.
The Government was likely monitoring the situation in Australia also, as New Zealand’s case numbers were about two months behind its transtasman neighbour’s.
It was now experiencing a second wave of Omicron cases "as high as the first wave in some states and territories", which justified continued caution here.
Prof Baker echoed the call for eligible people to get boosted, and said the other hole in the nation’s immunity was children as only 10% of children had received a second dose of the vaccine.
"One of the reasons I was concerned about moving to Orange is that it would mean at school you no longer have a mask requirement. You only have 10% of the kids fully vaccinated. You’ve got very few barriers to the virus spreading even more widely amongst school students."
■ As of 11.59pm yesterday, hospitality and close-proximity businesses are no longer obliged to check vaccine passes, although masks and capacity limits remain. — Additional reporting The New Zealand Herald
