Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says a potential vaccination botch-up at an Auckland centre was "regrettable", but he had confidence in officials to resolve the situation.
A modelling expert says the chance of the Bay of Plenty region leaving alert level 4 tomorrow evening is "quite realistic".
Meanwhile, one of New Zealand's leading Covid-19 experts says the elimination process is still the correct option, despite strong criticism from across the ditch.
The decision tomove down alert levels or remain at level 4 will be reviewed tomorrow and an update announced in the afternoon.
University of Canterbury's Professor Michael Plank, an expert in modelling complex biological and social systems, said it's "quite realistic" regional New Zealand will move out of lockdown.
High Covid-19 test numbers and wastewater results would be the two main factors today and tomorrow, he said.
"With those two things, I think it's quite realistic to think areas of New Zealand could move down in alert levels [after tomorrow]," Plank said.
University of Canterbury's Professor Michael Plank. Photo / Supplied
"The other thing the Government will be considering is where it's practical to place the borders.
"There's no perfect answer, wherever you put the border you'll annoy someone who wants to be on the other side of it."
The lockdown has seen popular local spots such as the Mauao base track closed. Photo / George Novak
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealand had never had a split of level 4 and level 3 in different regions, however, planning was under way for how that would work.
The determination of tomorrow's decision wouldn't only come down to whether there were cases in different regions but associated risks like where contacts were located and how many had been tested. STORY CONTINUES AFTER LIVE BLOG
STORY CONTINUES Hipkins would not say whether regions with no cases would only drop to level 3 or whether they could go to level 2.
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker wouldn't make a prediction about the possible change in alert levels for the regions.
However, he said, with more strands of information coming forward each day the possibility was "firming up".
Asked about Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's criticism of New Zealand chasing elimination status, Baker said it remained the right option in his eyes.
"There's a high degree of consensus in New Zealand is that what we're aiming to do is the elimination approach until we have high vaccine coverage," he said.
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker. Photo / Supplied
"I think it's likely we stamp out this outbreak. Maintaining our borders and improving our biosecurity [should be the focus] over the next few months.
"I'd hope late this year or early next year we can look around at what the evidence is telling us about the best long-term strategy."
Data expert Dr Andrew Chen, a research fellow with Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland said QR code scans increased when they weren't supposed to.
"You would expect the level of participation to drop because people aren't going out and about as much with lockdown," he said.
"The amount of codes being scanned on a daily basis is higher than it was earlier this month.
"That's showing people who are going to the supermarket or who are just essential workers, there must be a lot who were not using the app who now are."
Dr Andrew Chen. Photo / Supplied
Chen expected the number of scans outside of lockdown to increase as the Government installed legislation making record keeping mandatory.
"The information that will be collected should be very helpful to contact tracers should further cases appear in the community," he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier this week the lockdown extension would allow additional data on how contained the outbreak was likely to be.
So far this week, the news has been positive for those outside of Auckland where the majority of cases have been, with a handful from Wellington.
Rotorua people get some fresh air on Springfield Rd. Photo / Andrew Warner
What you need to know from latest Covid-19 update
At the latest Covid-19 update yesterday, it was revealed there were 62 new cases of Covid-19 in the community — taking the total to 210. Of the new cases, 36 are female and 26 are male.
The number of overall contacts increased on previous days to 20,383 as of yesterday morning. Twelve people with the virus had been hospitalised.
There are currently six epidemiologically linked subclusters identified within the outbreak.
Rotorua Airport during level 4 lockdown. Photo / Andrew Warner
The largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (approximately 36 confirmed cases), and a cluster associated with the AOG church in Mangere (approximately 105 confirmed cases).
As of 9am yesterday, 20,383 individual contacts have been identified and 62 per cent have had a test. There are more than 480 locations of interest listed on the ministry's website.
On Tuesday, 56,872 first doses of the vaccine were given and 23,161 second doses were given. The 80,033 doses administered is the biggest daily total to date by more than 16,000 doses.
