There are encouraging trends of decreasing community cases, hospitalisations and death rates linked to Covid across the country, the Ministry of Health says, as we enter "a new stage" of the pandemic.

There are 1793 new cases of Covid-19 in the community.

There are also 260 people in hospital, including 5 in intensive care.

Ministry of Health Deputy Director-General and head of the Public Health Agency, Dr Andrew Old, also reported a further 6 virus related deaths.

Old said in the past week, the seven-day rolling average of cases has decreased by 27 per cent for all age groups. He said the death rate was also decreasing.

On the week ending July 31 rates were up at 220, on August 28 they were at 50, he said.

Old said these trends were "encouraging".

Hospital bed numbers occupied by Covid-19 patients are also decreasing, said Dr Pete Watson, Interim National Medical Director for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand.

Watson anticipates improvements will continue through September and October.

He said the downward trend is reflected within the health system.

However, he said they do still expect to see impacts of the long tail of Covid-19.

Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen said the decline in cases was important for the Maori population.

"We have to acknowledge all of those whanau who have suffered the loss of someone during the pandemic, said Jansen.

He said Maori providers "stepped up" during the pandemic and it was important to carry on with the work all ready being done.

Old said we had a lower and earlier peak of cases in this second Omicron wave than what was predicted by modellers.

He said the variant that was almost exclusively circulating was B.A5.

"We haven't seen the last of it, and we have to remain vigilant.

"Having said that, right now we are clearly moving into a new stage of the pandemic."

Old said he was not expecting a rise in cases in the coming weeks, but fluctuations in the future should be expected because Covid-19 was not specifically a seasonal disease.

He said announcements would be made next week about the easing of Covid-19 protection framework and would not be answering related questions today.

At this stage, Old said there were no plans to introduce third or subsequent booster doses of the vaccine.

He said further ahead modelling is less accurate, but modelling has been commissioned to see through summer, and hopefully through to next winter.

Today's press conference comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed last week that they were considering axing the traffic light system and relaxing other remaining restrictions.

Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall wouldn't give details of what was on the table ahead of the next Cabinet decision, but the Government appears to have signalled mask mandates may be dropped in all but the most high-risk health settings.

New Zealand epidemiologist Michael Baker says the Covid-19 traffic light framework has outlived its usefulness.

Baker would like to see the country move on to a more straightforward system.

"People may say we've had enough of frameworks, but we do need a common language," says Baker.

The Otago University-based infectious disease expert says we could draw on other examples also designed to keep society safe from harm.

"When you drive through the countryside in summer, you have a big sign that you see regularly, which has a five-point scale about the risk of fire... We need something as simple as that to give you an idea of the level of risk. And the red zone should really be reserved for when we are at risk of overwhelming our health system."

Meanwhile, some experts have urged against completely abandoning our last lines of defence - masks and home isolation - stressing that the virus hasn't gone anywhere and warning that decisions made could shape the health of Kiwis over decades to come.

Vaccine mandates remain only for a few sectors, in particular for certain health and disability roles. Masks are required on domestic flights, public transport and in public facilities and retail businesses, but not in cafes, bars and restaurants.

While a seven-day isolation period remains in place for infected people and their household contacts, quarantine-free travel into the country is now open to everyone - provided they're vaccinated and take two rapid antigen tests (RATs) on arrival.