UPDATED: All of New Zealand except Auckland will move to alert level 2 at midnight Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made the announcement at post cabinet briefing today.

All schools and education centres will reopen on Thursday.

Auckland remains at alert level 4 and cabinet will meet again on Monday, September 13 to discuss the alert levels for both Auckland and the rest of the country.

There are new rules at alert level 2 or delta 2, says Ardern.

At alert level 2 face coverings will be mandatory in public venues for both staff and customers. People are able to take their masks off in hospitality venues in order to eat and drink.

"To keep it simple please wear a mask,” says Ardern.

Delta travels through the air which is why masks are so important, she says.

Contact tracing and scanning using the Covid Tracer app will be mandatory at more venues now including bars, Restuarant, cinemas and hairdressers.

For those holding private events they need to keep a record of who is attending.

Ardern says even if it is not mandatory to scan at a business, please do it anyway.

There will also be new limits of how many people can gather in places. For indoor gatherings the limit is 50 people and an everyone must be seated and separated.

For outdoor venues or spaces the limit is 100 people with the same rules around seating and separation.

There are also new social distancing rules in businesses like gyms and retail outlets there must be two metre distance between people.

Ardern says, "Wear a mask, scan everywhere you go, be patient, be kind and support local".

She says there is progress but the job is not done and we cannot drop the ball.

The government is also putting in place surveillance testing for essential workers crossing the Auckland border for work.

Those doing so will be required to have a weekly covid-19 test from midnight Thursday. There are around 3000 essential workers crossing the boundary each day.

Because this is surveillance testing people will not need to isolate while waiting for the result, says Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

There will also be more regular testing for healthcare workers and an increase in the frequency of testing for staff in managed isolation and quarantine facilities to twice weekly for at least the next two weeks.

Dr Bloomfield says the sole purpose of all these extra measures is to stamp out delta.

EARLIER: Today is the day New Zealand, apart from Auckland, will find out if we move to Alert Level 2 on Tuesday night.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will give a post-cabinet update to the media today at 4pm.

Auckland will remain at Alert Level 4 for at least another week.

If we do move to Alert Level 2 this week, what will that look like?

This is the question many people will be waiting to hear the answer to at today's post cabinet announcement.

Tune into the livestream above to see what will happen.