"The evidence" will determine what decisions the Government makes around COVID-19 traffic light settings on Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
Her comments come after New Zealanders experienced their second weekend in the new COVID Protection Framework, or 'traffic light' system, which has permanently replaced the alert levels.
The Government will review those settings during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. The settings announced will last for the duration of the Christmas break and won't be reviewed again until January 17.
Auckland, which has long been the epicentre of New Zealand's Delta outbreak, is currently at the most restrictive 'red' level - meaning hospitality venues are limited to 100 vaccinated people, while hospitality businesses that choose not to check jab passes must remain contactless.
But shifting to orange has been touted as a possibility due to high COVID-19 vaccination rates and falling case numbers.
"The things that determine our decisions are not breaks, they are the evidence around what's happening, making sure that we are applying the advice we receive to the best of our ability, factoring everything in," Ardern told RNZ's Morning Report.
She said the Government was mindful of potentially easing restrictions too quickly.
"If you do move too soon you run the risk of escalating case numbers and you end back up in higher restrictions," Ardern said on Monday. "We want to go the distance… at this point, we do want to just do our best to just give a bit of certainty to Auckland."
Ardern told Morning Report New Zealand was still transitioning into the traffic light system.
"This is a big shift into this framework. We want to take it carefully and we did say, for the first time when we're moving into it, some of the things we factor in will be a little bit different than what we do going forward into the future.
"The Opposition has continually put pressure on us to go faster; to lift restrictions sooner, to open borders earlier and I think if we'd listened to them we may be in a different position as a country."
From December 15, Aucklanders will be able to leave the city for the first time since August - as long as they are either vaccinated or can provide evidence of a negative test result within 72 hours.
