Auckland will move to alert level 1 on Wednesday at 11.59pm, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is holding a press conference in Christchurch today at 1pm to reveal Cabinet's decision. Ardern said Cabinet met via Zoom today to review Auckland's alert level.
The Auckland cluster was New Zealand's biggest but all signs pointed to it being under control, she said.
There was a 95% chance the cluster had been contained, according to new modelling.
Just five people from the cluster were yet to recover from Covid-19.
There was also confidence another cluster linked to a person who had the virus after leaving managed isolation following their 14 day stay was contained.
Ardern's warning
She said the resurgence of the virus was not New Zealand's only worry - the resurgence of complacency was also a problem.
Contact tracing scans had fallen significantly, she said.
Businesses still need to display QR codes at Level 1, she said.
It was also important not to get complacent on testing, Ardern said.
The low rates of testing in July, during the freedoms of Level 1, might be part of the reason that the outbreak was not picked up sooner, she said.
Level 1 required everyone to be vigilant and play their part.
She reiterated that anyone who felt sick should stay home. And people should keep scanning into places via the contact tracing app.
'A test of our plan'
Ardern said a lot was at stake with the resurgence of Covid-19 in Auckland.
"It was a test of our plan," she said.
New Zealand again responded well, she said.
"I know for many, this one has felt harder."
"Despite that, Aucklanders and New Zealanders stuck to the plan that has worked twice now."
She pointed to soaring cases overseas, including 12,000 new cases in the UK on Saturday and new restrictions there.
One new case in managed isolation today
There have been no new community cases of Covid-19 for the past 12 days.
The Ministry of Health earlier announced just one new case of coronavirus to report from managed isolation in New Zealand today and no new confirmed cases in the community.
The person who has tested positive arrived from Hong Kong on October 1 and returned a positive test as part of routine testing at around day 3. They have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is 1499.
Two previously reported cases are now considered to have recovered, meaning our total number of active cases is 40.
Of these active cases, 34 are imported cases in managed isolation/quarantine facilities, and six are community cases. There is no one in hospital with the virus today.
Yesterday, laboratories processed 2834 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 982,819.
