Coronavirus: New Zealand to remain at the red traffic light setting

The Prime Minister has announced that New Zealand will remain at the red traffic light setting.

Jacinda Ardern said many parts of the country are still facing a surge in Covid-19 cases, so we are not ready to move to an orange traffic light setting yet.

Ardern said that while daily new Covid-19 cases were numbering about 13,000 and even though the pandemic appeared to be running out of steam in Auckland, it was still too soon to open up the country.

Asked why Auckland couldn't move to orange before the rest of the country, Ardern said there was still significant pressure on our health systems.

The next traffic light review will be on April 14.

This comes as there are nine new Covid-related deaths and 10,205 new community cases, taking the total active community cases to 92,505.

The deaths reported today take the total number of publicly reported fatalities with Covid-19 to 405 since the pandemic began.

There are 734 people in hospital, including 25 in intensive care.

From 11.59pm tonight, there is no longer a requirement to use a vaccine pass, however, businesses can still use the system if they wish to.