PM urges Kiwis to 'double down' against Covid-19 as alert level review nears

The Prime Minister has urged New Zealanders to "double down" this week on fighting Covid-19, as the country sees a second day with zero new cases of the virus. 

Jacinda Ardern spoke to media after attending Australia's national Cabinet meeting - but did not give any details on the outcome of discussions of a potential trans-Tasman bubble, as the meeting was still going. 

She called the second day of zero cases "the result of New Zealanders' level of commitment and discipline to our goal of winning the fight against Covid-19". 

"We know the virus can have a long tail and the other cases can pop up, so as we make our way through this week and head towards the Level 3 review, my message remains, don’t do anything that snatches our potential victory at this point".

"Let's double down this week to maintain this good run of numbers."

Ms Ardern and her Cabinet are set to review when to move from Level 3 to 2 on Monday, May 11. This will be after she outlines the conditions of Level 2 on Thursday. 

Ms Ardern also spoke about her meeting with Australia's national Cabinet, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, state premiers and territory chief ministers in attendance. 

On the agenda was the possibility of a trans-Tasman Covid-19 bubble, which would remove the requirement of a two week quarantine period at each end. 

However, as the meeting was still going, Ms Ardern refused to give any more details. 

She said the point of the meeting was to "discuss our experiences with Covid-19 and what we can learn from one another and how we might be able to work together as we recover from the pandemic". 

"We both stand to benefit from getting up and running again."

Ms Ardern said the case for increasing the economic relationship between the two countries "was clear". 

Last night on TVNZ1's Q+A with Jack Tame, deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said there was aspects that meant a trans-Tasman bubble under Level 2 was "surely possible". 

He gave the example of bringing Australians to New Zealand to use the ski fields, while "managed in very close circumstances".