UPDATED: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that the Covid alert levels will lower on Sunday.

Auckland will move to level 2 and the rest of New Zealand will move to level 1 from 6am Sunday.

A decision on whether to move Auckland to level 1 will be made at the start of next weekend.

The Prime Minister stated that, in the coming weeks, she will be laying out a more significant road map for Covid-19 throughout 2021, once there is more certainty surrounding vaccinations.

Ardern admitted that it may feel like New Zealand is currently in a run of 'bad luck” after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings on Friday.

But a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron has put things into perspective given their respective Covid issues.

'Covid has taken a toll in so many ways,” says Ardern. 'But it will get better. An elimination strategy can feel like hard work. It is natural to feel fatigued.”

Ardern confirms that since Valentine's Day roughly 6000 contacts related to the current Auckland cluster have been identified and there had been a 58 per cent jump in use of the Covid app, something she stated was a 'hugely important contribution.”

Both Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield reiterated calls for citizens to follow the Level 2 restrictions in Auckland next week including when it comes to public gatherings, hospitality and contact tracing.

Dr Bloomfield states that under a new Section 70 order, any person who attended City Fitness Hunters Plaza on Saturday, February 20 between 11.15am and 1.45pm, or Sunday, February 26 between 3.25pm and 4.30pm, as well as anyone who is a close, close-plus or casual contacts is required to; isolate at your usual home, report for testing at a specified time and accept testing and isolate until you are told officially that you no longer need to.

EARLIER: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will provide an update following the cabinet meeting at 4 pm today.

Ardern is expected to make an announcement on the alert level settings.

There are no new cases of Covid-19 in the community or in managed isolation today.

The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 68 with a total number of confirmed cases at 2,033.

A strong demand for testing continues in Auckland.

On Thursday, 11,402 tests were processed. More than 69,000 tests have been processed in the last week, with a seven-day rolling average up to yesterday of 9,903 tests processed.

The total number of tests processed by laboratories to date is 1,763,008.