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The Government meets today to decide the immediate future of New Zealand's alert level-2 status - and a health expert believes stricter rules around masks in Auckland will help speed up a lowering to level 1.
Health officials are confident they are on top of the community outbreak of Covid-19 cases, ahead of the Cabinet meeting today to assess alert level settings - but warn cases will likely continue for several more weeks.
There were two new Covid-19 cases announced yesterday - one case a 21-year-old man linked to the Americold cool store group of cases and who was already in isolation as a close contact, and another woman in managed isolation.
The current alert level settings (level '2.5' for Auckland and 2 for the rest of the country) are in place until September 6 – Sunday - but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is set to announce a decision today on whether the country stays with that status for longer.
Otago University Professor of Public Health Nick Wilson told Newstalk ZB today that he did not expect Cabinet would lower the alert level to 1 from Sunday - but he did not think it would be too far off, especially if masks were used more frequently.
"We are not really seeing enough evidence yet of really good control ... we still get cases every day in the community. To be really confident, we should be waiting to see days where there's no new cases," Wilson told Mike Hosking.
"I think we could move faster [by] using masks better."
He believed masks could be made mandatory in areas other than public transport, which would help speed up elimination of the virus and a return to level 1.
That would be good for business, too, he said, in that with more mask-wearing, physical distancing could be reduced.