Businesses on the South Island's West Coast are agitating for permission to reopen early, because their region has had only five cases of Covid-19.
The Government will say today what Alert Level 2 and 3 restrictions will look like before deciding on Monday whether the country is ready to move out of Alert Level 4.
The Mayor of Buller, Jamie Cleine, says being in level four has meant a ban on exports of coal and therefore no work for the 300 miners at Stockton, nor the roughly 150 employed in gold mining in his district.
He says maintaining two metres of separation would be simple in these industries, and so long as the number of cases remains low, the restrictions should be lifted for the region.
But he believes that will only work if strict controls are placed on those coming in to the region.
