Vaccine supplies may run out by the time more are delivered next Tuesday and vaccination requirements are being broadened, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says.
Hipkins, joined by Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield, this afternoon confirmed Wellington will drop to alert level 1 at midnight tonight, while trans-Tasman travel will remain shut down until at least Sunday, and even longer for some high-risk states.
Noting there were no new cases in the community, he also said a delivery of vaccines was made today, and another delivery was expected for next Tuesday but "we're cutting it really fine".
"If deliveries are late, that will cause another headache for us."
It would be pretty tight over the next seven days, he said, and might get down to zero by next Tuesday.
The mandatory vaccination requirement would also be extended to a bigger group of workers, he said, and that was being worked on.
Read back through RNZ's Covid-19 live updates for 29 June:
In a statement this morning, the Ministry of Health says last evening 125 people in the Novotel Auckland Airport managed isolation facility were advised their stay in managed isolation would be extended.
"Returnees are to remain in the facility until the genome sequencing results of two positive day 12 Covid-19 cases in the managed isolation facility announced yesterday are available," it says.
The two cases arrived on 14 June, one from Moscow and one from Dubai.
Meanwhile, Cabinet is meeting this morning to determine whether Covid-19 levels can change in the Wellington region, and to re-assess the pause on the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
Wellington, Wairarapa and Kāpiti Coast were put in alert level 2 on 23 June. Between 18 June and 21 June, an Australian tourist who had visited tourist attractions, restaurants and bars in the capital tested positive for the Delta variant of the virus on returning home.
The man's partner who also visited Wellington has also tested positive which means that test results from locations the couple visited towards the end of their stay are critical.
There have been no community cases reported since and thousands have been tested. Alert level 2 for Wellington is due to end at midnight if there are no further changes from Cabinet.
Cabinet will also be considering the pause on quarantine-free travel to Australia after travel from all Australian states and territories was paused on Saturday night until just before midnight tonight.