Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the first weekend in the traffic light system has received largely positive feedback.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. File photo Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The country is into day four of the Covid-19 traffic light system and, for many people, it's taking a bit of getting used to.
Cafés and even councils around the country have made their own decisions on how they will operate within the new guidelines.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report there haven't been widespread issues with fake Covid-19 vaccine passes being used.
She said the government would remain in contact with the Business Association to work out any issues that may crop up.
"By and large the feedback has been really positive particularly given it is a big shift for many ... there will be the odd thing that we'll need to keep ironing out and we'll be keeping in close contact with the hospitality association [and] the retailers just to hear and understand where there are issues that we can resolve together."
"Police have already said that across their districts they're not reporting major issues, they have obviously been undertaking spot checks.
Listen to PM Jacinda Ardern speaking
After National Party leader Christopher Luxon questioned the government's call to put Auckland into the red setting under the traffic light system, Ardern defended the cautious approach.
"We're in a transition phase and while we're in that transition phase we do want to make sure we step into this easing carefully and that's ultimately because the lower the numbers are the more effective our systems can be.
"Contact tracing and isolation still we know has a significant impact on the number of cases you have in a community so we want to make sure that we don't have those systems overwhelmed - the best way we can do that is to keep in place public health measures that we know make a difference: gathering limits, mask use and making sure we're using passes and scanning," Ardern said.
She asked for patience under the new system and pointed to spikes in case numbers other countries have faced after hastily removing public health measures.
"We've seen enough from overseas that if you just pull the brakes off too quickly it can end in disaster and a quick flip back into restrictions - we don't want that we've always done things our way and caution has paid off.
As the regions moved into their respective traffic light levels, some councils around the country decided not to implement the use of vaccine passes at their public facilities.
Ardern said councils were within their rights to make their own decisions and those who decided not to require vaccine passes did not undermine the traffic light system.
"We haven't required them across retail and public facilities because those are places where people can continue to use masks and be physically distanced.
"It doesn't mean that a retailer or a council may themselves determine that they want to use them, that is their prerogative but it's not something we've mandated."
Ardern said there were only a few areas around the country that she would describe as low level vaccination rates.
While Northland's vaccination rates continued to be lower than other regions she said the West Coast was close to reaching the 90 percent first-dose milestone.