The Government could announce a change to the criticised 10 person funeral and tangi limit when the country moves to Level 2 tomorrow.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today announced she and Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield had instigated calls with church leaders, funeral directors and iwi leaders.
“We are working hard to see if we can find ways to accommodate some of the concerns that are being raised within the capacity of the Ministry of Health."
Ms Ardern said overseas funerals and wedding had contributed to the spread of Covid-19, however, “funerals and tangi are exceptional, they are life events that cannot be postponed”.
"I do believe that we are well on our way to finding a solution that will meet both of these concerns."
But, she said there would still be restrictions.
"I expect the Minister of Health will have more to say on that before the end of the day."
Earlier today, National launched a petition against the 10 person limit.
Leader Simon Bridges said it wasn't "fair" that there could be 30 people on a rugby field, but there couldn't be more than 10 people at a funeral.
The National petition states that there was "no plausible reason why safety, distancing, and contact-tracing measures cannot be put in place to ensure that public health is at the forefront while still allowing people to fully worship, mourn, or celebrate important events".
New Zealand is set to go to Alert Level 2 tomorrow, however, despite earlier indications gatherings would have a 100 person limit, the Prime Minister announced on Monday that number would be reduced for private gatherings.
Ms Ardern said earlier this week that if something was to go wrong with a group of 10 it was "much easier to contain and much easier to contact trace". She also said it was "much less likely" for the whole country to experience more restrictions if something were to go wrong with that number in place.
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