However, there is still no timeline on expanding vaccination for Kiwis eager to get a second booster.

Daily cases have stayed under 5000 for six days, and hospitalisations have nearly halved from the wave peak of 836 in late July, to 496 on Wednesday.

While case numbers are an undercount of transmission in the community, Deputy Director General Andrew Old said wastewater monitoring confirmed a downwards trend.

"It remains an incredibly busy time for our hospitals," Dr Old said.

"Pleasingly the case rate for over 65s has dropped for the fourth week running ... and case rates among healthcare workers has declined for the fifth week running."

New Zealand is currently at orange in a traffic light-themed system, which mandates masks in many indoor public spaces and requires people who catch the virus and their housemates to isolate for seven days.

"We're committed to constantly reviewing the set of protective measures that are in place so they continue to be protective and be proportionate to the risk thats there," Dr Old said.

"We're in the middle right now of reviewing the range of measures (and) we'll be providing that advice through to the government for their decision making process in the next week or so."

COVID-19 Minister Ayesha Verrall said the government intended to make a call on restrictions next month.

The country's most prominent public health expert, the University of Otago's Michael Baker, said it was too soon to lift the remaining mandates.

"We're all over the pandemic, all of us, we all want it to go away, but you can't wish it away," he told TVNZ.

"We've just had our most lethal week recently for COVID-19. It was causing 15 per cent of deaths in New Zealand so it's not the time that you'd be wanting to cut back. But ... there will be a point in the next one to two months when we should review mainly mask restrictions."

Unlike Australia, the NZ government has not expanded eligibility for the second booster shot beyond over-50s despite calls from the opposition, Greens and public health experts to do so.

A health ministry spokesman said new advice would be heading to government within the next two weeks, more than four weeks after it was promised.

On monkeypox, New Zealand has largely dodged the global outbreak to date, with four confirmed cases, and no community transmission.

However, Dr Old said New Zealand had still not confirmed the arrival of a vaccine, meaning it cannot start preventative treatment for at-risk communities.

Instead, he said "The biggest defence at the moment is for people to understand what it is, how it transmits, and how to keep safe".

Earlier this month, Nick Chamberlain, the national director of the National Public Health Service, sparked alarm by giving misinformation on how monkeypox transmits and saying New Zealand had waited until the first case arrived before seeking a vaccine.

A Health NZ spokesman said Dr Chamberlain misspoke, and officials began procurement in May.

Dr Old said the monkeypox vaccine manufacturer was prioritising countries that have significant outbreaks and he was hoping a confirmed timeline for its arrival within a week.

Australian Associated Press