Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has dashed hopes of a move to the orange traffic light setting, saying "we're doing well, but we're still in a large Omicron outbreak".
The Restaurant Association said it was a bitter disappointment, as the hospitality industry continues to struggle with no more than 200 people allowed in an indoor setting.
There were 10,205 new cases on Monday, and while Ardern conceded the outbreak was running out of steam in Auckland, it isn't elsewhere, and she said there was still significant pressure on the health system.
There were 734 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Monday, with 25 in intensive care. There were also nine deaths of people with COVID-19 reported.
Auckland's Everybody's bar hasn't been able to welcome guests to its dancefloor for months. Owner Sam Ansley was all ears on Monday waiting for Cabinet's call on the traffic light rules to see if that would change - but it was bad news.
"New Zealand will remain at red," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced at her post-Cabinet press conference.
Ansley was gutted.
"I was sure she was going to do something different. I was sure of it," he told Newshub. "Hospitality is the continuing whipping boys."
Cabinet is keeping the brakes on.
"I know there is an eagerness to move to orange. But we are still frankly amid an outbreak and there is still pressure across our hospital network," Ardern said.
Ansley suggested the rules aren't fair.
"Sports events, you can go and have 50,000 people in a seat that's 32 millimetres away from somebody else. Everything else has opened up except for us."
While vaccine passes are a no-go now, the 200-person indoor limit and the seated and separated rules remain at red.
And the red setting means people are still working from home. Ansley cannot get his place humming at capacity.
"If you're an after work bar and going into late night, you rely on the city being full of people and vibrant and that's not happening."
Despite Auckland climbing down off its Omicron peak, the Prime Minister is now willing to set them free yet.
"Auckland has made significant progress but we do still have a relatively high hospitalisation rate, they carry a significant number of the hospitalisations in New Zealand in the Auckland region. We need to look after our healthcare workforce," Ardern said.
ACT leader David Seymour says the rules don't make sense.
"There's no longer any logic to the framework. They're just hurting hospitality for no reason," he told Newshub.
While the curve is being crushed up north, COVID-19 is still raging through the country. There are 92,500 active cases in New Zealand.
Christchurch is chasing down the COVID capital with 14,000 of those cases.
Before the Government contemplates light changes, epidemiologist Michael Baker wants us to be smarter about indoor environments like schools and restaurants by requiring masks. He'd also like to see us adopt a minimum ventilation standard.
"We all accept the idea of safe water and safe food and I think the idea of safe air indoors is really important," Professor Baker said.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the Ministry of Health hasn't done work on a standard but will do if asked.
