The number of app alerts sent out compared to the number of people believed to have been at locations of interest suggests only a third had signed in, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
Ardern announced at a post-Cabinet media briefing this afternoon that the government had commissioned advice on making sign-ins mandatory at high-risk places, and requiring the use of masks under alert level 2 and in other high-risk areas.
She said use of the app was "consistently low" across New Zealand recently, having gone from a peak of two million scans per day in the first half of September last year, to a low of 405,630 scans on 7 June.
Although the traveller who visited Wellington from Sydney had made thorough use of the app, she said, just 585 alerts had been sent out to others who had signed in at the same places. That was despite figures showing about 2600 people had been at locations of interest, and suggested just a third of people at those locations had signed in.
Read back through today's live updates:
On Saturday and Sunday respectively just 776 and 754 people were tested in the Greater Wellington region, compared with about 2000 to 3000 daily last week soon after the Sydney visitor's positive Covid-19 result was announced.
An RNZ reporter who visited three testing sites today said Johnsonville was the busiest but is appointments only, the Hataitai testing centre near Wellington Rugby Club was not busy, and about 10 people were waiting in the queue at the Taranaki Street site.
Meanwhile, calls to Healthline have continued at similar rates. There were 3000 calls on Saturday and 2000 calls on Sunday - much the same as the early part of the latest scare.
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster earlier said a large number of people were potentially exposed to Covid-19, but if the region got through this without anyone being infected then it really would feel like "dodging a bullet".
"Not just for Wellington, but probably for the country, because we had people flying around from Wellington Airport to all parts of the country," he told First Up.
"If we get out of this without there being any cases in the community, then it'll be a sigh of relief, but we do need to keep on being vigilant because we are not post-Covid.
"So far it's looking good, we might've dodged a bullet in terms of people not being affected, with no positive cases. But I think it's right to be careful, and I've seen a lot more people doing their contact tracing."
There have been no community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand since a Sydney man who later tested positive for the Delta variant of the virus visited restaurants, cafes and tourist spots in the capital the weekend before last.
But the Sydney man's partner who also travelled to Wellington has now tested positive for Covid-19.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said this suggested the man was infectious towards the end of his stay in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the Wellington region remains at Covid-19 alert level 2 until at least 11.59pm tomorrow after a decision by Cabinet yesterday to extend the restrictions by 48 hours.