Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed when the Government will be announcing its decision over New Zealand moving out of full lockdown.
Ms Ardern detailed tomorrow's plans during today's Covid-19 response press conference. She said Cabinet will meet at the earlier than usual time of 10.30am on Monday to decide whether to stay at Alert Level 4 or to shift to Alert Level 3 this week.
"We will be sharing the decision that's been made with all of you at 4pm that day."
The announcement will be aired live on TVNZ1, on 1NEWS.co.nz and on the 1 NEWS Facebook page.
The Prime Minister then detailed what those deliberations would entail, pointing out tomorrow's meeting will be starting early to allow for extra time to discuss the decision.
"There are several things the ministers will consider and these were criteria discussed by the ministers some time ago," she said.
"That criteria includes that the Director-General of Health [Dr. Ashley Bloomfield] is satisfied that there is sufficient data from a range of sources - including testing and surveillance, public health experts, statisticians and modellers - that we can have reasonable certainty that undetected community transmission is unlikely.
"Secondly, that there is sufficient, rigorous, and rapid case identification in contact tracing with search capacity available in the case of an outbreak.
"Thirdly, our self-isolation, quarantine and border measures are robust and adhered to.
"And finally, there is capacity in the health system more generally, including the workforce, ICU capacity, plus the availability of PPE for those who it is recommended.
"Alongside that, we will look at the evidence of the effects of the measures on the economy and on society more broadly - public attitudes towards the measures and the extent to which people and businesses understand, accept and are overall complying with them."
Ardern also gave credit to New Zealanders for how they've managed so far after more than three weeks in the nationwide lockdown.
"We've had a plan, we've stuck to it and we've done it together," she said.
"We have stayed home, we have saved lives and we are breaking the chains of transmission, and the numbers back this up with data coming through from Google location tracking showing a huge drop in traffic in our cities as well as far fewer visits to places like beaches and parks."
So far, New Zealand has 1431 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases, with 912 recovered and 12 deaths.
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