New Omicron infections across Auckland are starting to drop but the increasing number of patients in hospitals with Covid may not see the city shift out of the red traffic light restrictions just yet. 

Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said this morning that Auckland had seen the peak of infections but, when it came to shifting down a level in the Covid protection framework, he told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking what is taken into account are positivity rates and hospitalisations. 

He said they were reviewing the red light settings every two weeks. 

There were currently nearly 1000 people in hospitals with Covid. 

Bloomfield rejected any claim the health system was in crisis but said health staff were feeling under pressure with 15 to 20 per cent of the workforce at down with Covid. 

He said two-thirds of those in hospital with Covid-19 were there because of virus symptoms or because it had impacted an underlying illness. 

The other third were presenting under other circumstances, such as for injuries or maternal care. 

That meant around 750 people were in hospital mostly because of Covid. 

"Remember, that's 750 people in hospital who otherwise wouldn't have been." 

It meant other care like elective surgery and planned care couldn't always be carried out. 

Meanwhile, Pfizer has talked about a fourth dose of the vaccine for over 65s. 

Last week, Bloomfield asked health officials to look into a fourth dose for older folk because there was waning immunity and because older people were more vulnerable. 

Nurses are being paid an extra $500 per night shift as hospitals grappled with staffing issues, especially in Auckland, Bloomfield confirmed. 

A Waitematā District Health Board document, seen by the Herald, showed a Covid-19 remuneration arrangement became effective on March 4 and remained in place until March 18. 

All nurses, midwives and other hospital support staff employed by Auckland, Waitematā or Counties Manukau DHB, who worked a full eight-hour night shift had been given an extra $500 allowance on top of the amount they would usually get under the multi-employer collective agreement. 

As case numbers in the city drop, it would be interesting to see if hospitalisations across all three of its hospitals declined. 

For the rest of the country, the peak of the Omicron outbreak was still to come as case numbers continued to increase. 

Bloomfield would be putting advice to the Government about whether a booster will be a new requirement for vaccine passports. 

"We would like to get above 90 per cent" of the population boosted, he said. 

On tourists returning, Auckland University Covid modeller Dr David Welch said New Zealand is not really prepared to sequence Covid cases from travellers coming into the country. 

He wants to see incoming travellers' swabs sequenced if they test positive. They could send their swab in an envelope to a local laboratory. 

This would help give New Zealand a "heads up" if new variants were arriving, he told RNZ. 

"If we can detect something at the border it would still have to grow inside in New Zealand and spread - spotting it at the border ... could give us a 2-4 weeks' heads up."