Auckland's mayor Phil Goff expects Cabinet will be conservative when it makes decisions today and keep lockdown provisions as they are for his city.
"It's a case of balancing things out," he said.
"There is a hell of a lot of hurt in the community, not simply the disease, but the effect on human beings who have had their incomes slashed, whose businesses are failing, all of those other things, kids that can't be educated, and the government is always trying to find the balance."
Covid-19 case numbers in Auckland on Sunday were the highest in a month with 56 positive cases. There were another four cases in the community outside Auckland.
Goff told Morning Report he doubts residents of Auckland would comply with a return to alert level 4.
"You're talking about huge human costs, financial costs, and I don't think that you'll get people ready to comply with that level of restriction again."
