Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced New Zealand outside of Auckland could move to alert level one next Monday.
In the meantime alert level 2.5 in Auckland and level 2 would remain in place for the rest of the country.
Cabinet will review Auckland's settings on September 21 with a view to increase gathering limits in Auckland if it is safe, which would come into effect on September 23.
Cabinet had agreed in principle that the rest of New Zealand will move to level 1 at 11.59pm on September 21.
The move would be contingent on a Cabinet meeting that day to check on progress.
The decisions would be dependant on Covid-19 cases not markedly increasing in the meantime.
Ardern made the announcement in Dunedin, where the Labour leader is campaigning today, following a teleconference meeting with Cabinet ministers this morning.
Restrictions on air travel relaxed
Ardern said physical distancing requirements on planes and public transport will be eased. From today, airlines, buses and train operators do not need to maintain any seating restrictions, but mask use will continue to be compulsory.
The NZ Aviation Coalition says the removal of physical distancing seating requirements was great news for airlines.
It cleared the way for airlines to be able to fill their planes. For travellers this will mean more available seats, more flights and affordable fares to choose from, said co-chair Justin Tighe-Umbers.
''With school holidays coming up so many more Kiwis will now be able to get out around the country, visit loved ones or head on holiday.''
It was a pragmatic decision from the Ministry of Health which recognised that mandatory masks for everyone on board and existing airline measures will keep travellers safe.
''Having seating restrictions removed from Alert Level 2 means that the domestic network can continue to operate without losing up to three quarters of normal capacity which is impossible for airlines to keep up,'' he said.
One new case
The Ministry of Health earlier revealed one new case.
The ministry said the case is a female child who is epidemiologically linked to an existing case associated with the Botany sub-cluster which has been genomically linked to the Auckland cluster.
The child has been in isolation since August 30 due to being a household contact of a confirmed case.
Today there are three people in hospital with Covid-19 – one is in isolation on a ward in Auckland City Hospital. Two are in ICU, at North Shore and Waikato hospitals.
Coalition cracks - Winston speaks out
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said in a statement that he was invoking the Coalition Agreement's 'Agree to Disagree' provisions in light of Cabinet's decision to maintain Alert Level 2 settings outside Auckland.
"The Director-General of Health has stated that the Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland is contained. Additionally, he believes there is a low risk of transmission outside of Auckland," Peters said.
"These assessments are underpinned by a secure border, good levels of community testing and responsive contact tracing processes."
"New Zealand First notes that it will be around 120 days since the last community transmission or reported case – with the sole exception of the four Tokoroa cases, all linked to the Auckland cluster – outside of the Auckland region."
"Despite modelling suggesting a small risk of undetected cases outside Auckland, no evidence has yet emerged that this risk has been realised," Peters said.
Ardern said it was a "majority" decision in Cabinet and it wasn't unusual for NZ First ministers to take a different view.
The alert levels - what they mean
Auckland, the centre of the current outbreak, will stay at alert level "2.5", with a stricter social gatherings limit of 10 people except for funerals and tangi, which allow 50 people.
While the rest of the country is at alert level 2, social gatherings of up to 100 people are permitted.
The Auckland cluster's 'trouble spot'
Ardern said 36 cases in the community have been identified since Auckland came out of level 3, most of whom were already in isolation when they tested positive.
Over 100,000 tests nationwide in that time had not showed any further transmission, despite the travel freedoms.
The new bereavement sub-cluster in the last two weeks, however, was a trouble spot, she said.
In the 14 days at 2.5, there have been new community cases every day except for one, and these cases "can still continue to pose risks", Ardern said.
Ardern said New Zealand had followed a cautious approach so far, and getting back to level 1 was a focus, but it had to happen in a sustained way that avoided yo-yoing back into lockdown.
Auckland economy 'bounces back'
Economic activity had bounced back since the move in Auckland to level 2.5, showing people had adapted well and further proof that the best move to a healthy economy was a health-based approach, she said.
"Late restrictions, or those lifted too early, have allowed the exponential spread of the virus.
"Our plan is working, but it needs just a little bit more time."
She said keeping people safe from the virus was still New Zealand's strategy.
Following guidelines was important to get back to level 1 as soon as possible, she said.
She said it was a "majority" decision in Cabinet and it wasn't unusual for NZ First ministers to take a different view.
There is just one Covid case today, in the community, and it appears that a worker at the Jet Park quarantine facility was infected at the hotel.
Jet Park quarantine worker likely infected at hotel
Meanwhile, the Ministry said the case of the healthcare worker from the Jet Park Hotel Auckland quarantine facility who was reported yesterday has been genomically sequenced by ESR and linked to previous cases in the Auckland cluster.
The case is genomically linked to three cases from the cluster that have been isolating in the facility.
"This reinforces exposure at Jet Park being the most likely route of transmission, but the Public Health Unit continues to investigate exactly how the infection occurred.
The healthcare worker has five household contacts, and all have returned a negative test result. As close contacts they would remain in self-isolation for the full 14-day period and will be retested twice.
Nine staff from the quarantine facility have been identified as close contacts, tested, and all have returned a negative result. They will also remain in self-isolation for the full 14-day period and will be retested.
A deep clean of staff areas in the facility was completed yesterday.
"We would like to sincerely thank staff from elsewhere in the healthcare sector who are working at Jet Park to provide cover for those staff who are self-isolating.
"We would also like to sincerely thank all healthcare professionals who choose to work in our managed isolation and quarantine facilities, they are a critical part of New Zealand's response to Covid-19."
There were 53 people linked to the community cluster who remain in the Auckland quarantine facility, which included 29 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 and their household contacts.
Since August 11, its contact tracing team had identified 3708 close contacts of cases, of which 3697 have been contacted and are self-isolating, and we are in the process of contacting the rest.
With today’s new case and two additional recovered cases, the total number of active cases is 96.
Of those, 39 are imported cases in MIQ facilities, and 57 are community cases.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is now 1447, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.
Yesterday laboratories processed 3573 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 868,042.
As for whether the country should move down alert levels, University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker earlier told the New Zealand Herald it was too soon for Auckland to drop alert levels, given new cases are rolling in each day.
He wanted it to remain at level 2.5 for at least another two weeks.
However, he believed it might be safe for the rest of New Zealand to potentially move down in restrictions to an alert level 1.5, but said freeing Auckland up soon would be a mistake.
Under the current tailor-made level 2.5, Aucklanders have been able to go to work, shop, travel around the country, and even hold limited gatherings of no more than 10 people.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said if a change was made it would take effect from 11.59pm on Wednesday, September 16.
With NZ Herald
