The Northern Territory's indoor mask mandate will lift on Monday, with authorities declaring the NT has passed the peak of the current COVID-19 wave.
Masks will still be required in high-risk settings such as health, aged and disability care facilities, as well as in prisons and airports.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the change at a press conference on Wednesday.
"Now that we are past the Omicron peak it's time for the Territory to enter the next phase, where we continue to live with the virus but with more freedom and more personal responsibility," he said.
There were 624 new cases recorded in the latest reporting period and two deaths.
There are currently 76 people in hospital and two patients in intensive care.
From today, checking in will only be required at venues where people are required to show proof of COVID vaccination.
Mr Gunner said masks rules may still be required in some regions of concern, with a decision on certain communities to be made later in the week.
He said the Territory-wide mandate would remain in place until Monday, "to be certain we have locked in this downward trend in cases", and that the easing of restrictions was not a sign that the threat from the virus was over.
He said Territorians should be prepared for the reporting of more cases of serious illness and death in the coming weeks, which he said would lag behind the peak in case numbers.
There are currently about 4,000 active cases of COVID-19 in the NT, down from more than 7,000 daily cases earlier in February.
There have been 26 COVID-related deaths in the NT since local outbreaks began in November.
"Every one of those individuals had serious underlying health issues that contributed to their passing," Mr Gunner said.
"It does tell us this — that this variant is not considered a high risk for the vast majority of the territory population, people who are vaccinated and have no serious underlying health issues."
Deputy Chief Health Officer Charles Pain said health authorities believed the mandate was no longer appropriate but said he masks remained strongly recommended.
"Mandates are in place to to require people by law to adopt a particular behaviour," he said.
"The time has passed, at this point, for that."
He said it was possible there would be an increase in case numbers following the lifting of the mask mandate.
"The numbers are coming down to a point where we're confident that they won't have a great impact on the hospital system," he said.
"But of course, we have to monitor that continuously."
