Moving to level 1 will continue the debate around reopening borders and operating a transtasman bubble with Australia.

But Bloomfield said borders needed to be reopened safely.

Italy has just started lifting restrictions - despite having more than 40,000 active cases and 3000 new cases in the last week.

In New South Wales, Australia, rates of cases were very low, with no new cases Wednesday - but 13 confirmed cases in the week to May 30.

NSW's confirmed cases is around double that of New Zealand's of both confirmed and probable cases. The state's population was similar to New Zealand and Bloomfield said it was a good comparison.

Both NSW and New Zealand have substantially lower death rates per case than other countries.

Restrictions are being lifted comparatively quickly in New Zealand - including compared to NSW.

On Monday, Bloomfield joined a regional World Healh Organisation call on the topic of how to reopen borders safely.

"We need to remain vigilant to the threat that the virus poses," he said.

"While NZ was looking at a possible return to level 1, this would not be life back to normal. Hand hygiene, keeping a diary of where you've been and staying home when sick were all important."

Despite New Zealand being ahead of other countries in the Covid-19 fight, Bloomfield said there were still lessons to be learnt from other countries as they reopened borders and lifted restrictions - including Italy and the UK.

There have been around 380,000 Covid-19 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation.