There are encouraging trends across New Zealand showing decreasing community cases, hospitalisations and death rates linked to Covid-19, the Ministry of Health says.
There are 1793 new Covid cases in the New Zealand community today and 260 people in hospital with the virus, including five in intensive care.
There are 96 new cases in the Southern DHB area.
The Ministry of Health says eight more people have died with the disease. Three were from Auckland region, two were from Hawke's Bay, one was from Taranaki, one was from MidCentral and one was from Wellington region.
Two were in their 70s, four were in their 80s and two were aged over 90. Five were women and three were men.
Ministry of Health deputy director-general and head of the Public Health Agency Dr Andrew Old said in the past week, the seven-day rolling average of cases has decreased by 27 per cent for all age groups. He said the death rate was also decreasing.
On the week ending July 31 rates were up at 220, on August 28 they were at 50, he said.
Old said these trends were "encouraging".
Hospital bed numbers occupied by Covid-19 patients are also decreasing, said Dr Pete Watson, Interim National Medical Director for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand.
Watson anticipates improvements will continue through September and October.
He said the downward trend is reflected within the health system.
Yesterday there were 2035 new cases in the community and a further 12 deaths, including one person in their 20s.
There were 273 people in hospital with the virus, including three in intensive care.
Today's press conference comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed last week that they were considering axing the traffic light system and relaxing other remaining restrictions.
Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall wouldn't give details of what was on the table ahead of the next Cabinet decision, but the Government appears to have signalled mask mandates may be dropped in all but the most high-risk health settings.
New Zealand epidemiologist Michael Baker says the Covid-19 traffic light framework has outlived its usefulness.
Baker would like to see the country move on to a more straightforward system.
"People may say we've had enough of frameworks, but we do need a common language," says Baker.
The Otago University-based infectious disease expert says we could draw on other examples also designed to keep society safe from harm.
"When you drive through the countryside in summer, you have a big sign that you see regularly, which has a five-point scale about the risk of fire... We need something as simple as that to give you an idea of the level of risk. And the red zone should really be reserved for when we are at risk of overwhelming our health system."
Meanwhile, some experts have urged against completely abandoning our last lines of defence - masks and home isolation - stressing that the virus hasn't gone anywhere and warning that decisions made could shape the health of Kiwis over decades to come.
Vaccine mandates remain only for a few sectors, in particular for certain health and disability roles. Masks are required on domestic flights, public transport and in public facilities and retail businesses, but not in cafes, bars and restaurants.
While a seven-day isolation period remains in place for infected people and their household contacts, quarantine-free travel into the country is now open to everyone - provided they're vaccinated and take two rapid antigen tests (RATs) on arrival.
- additional reporting ODT Online
