Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O'Connor questioned Mr Rockliff on the issue, including a claim from Resources Minister Guy Barnett earlier this month that mask mandate removals were not a factor in an earlier rise in cases.

Ms O'Connor said the doubling of daily cases over a 48-hour period coincided with the broad removal of mask mandates, and questioned whether the government was being dishonest about the impact of the decision.

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"For us, it's not just about Mr Barnett, it's actually about the government's handling of COVID and their communication to the community about the easing of certain restrictions and what advice from decisions are based on," she said.

"That's in everyone's interest."

Daily case numbers surpassed 2000 for just the second time since the pandemic started, and active cases went above 10,000 on March 22. Hospitalisation rates have remained steady, but two people have died from COVID in the past two days.

Mr Rockliff said Tasmanians were still encouraged to wear masks if they could not socially distance, something that he personally adheres to.

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He said mainland states had removed mask mandates before Tasmania and not seen a significant increase in case numbers as a result, whereas BA.2 had caused a jump.

"Unlike other states, the Premier and the team at Public Health who have done such a wonderful job, have been joined at the hip when it comes to our response to COVID-19," Mr Rockliff said.

"It should be known as well that our restrictions have eased due to the good, solid public health advice by which we've been guided across the way. And it should be noted that Tasmania has one of, if not the, lowest hospitalisation rates in the country."

Public Health believes the BA.2 variant first spread rapidly in the state's North-West in mid-February, then in the North in early-March.

Director of Public Health Dr Mark Veitch said overall cases increased quickly as BA.2 became the more dominant variant in more populated areas, and the latest increase was driven by its spread in the South.

When asked last week whether mask mandate removals were a factor, he said that was unlikely.

"Other states and territories have seen a similar pattern where there's been roughly a doubling of case counts from where they were towards the tail end of the original Omicron outbreak, to where they are now," Dr Veitch said.

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Mask mandates might only be reintroduced should hospitalisations start to rise significantly, he said.

"When, though, would we consider toughening up measures and increasing them? I think we would need to see a substantial increase in serious consequences," Dr Veitch said.

"I don't think we need to ramp up the measures.

"We know the strains, we have a good sense of the consequences of those strains, and if we became aware of significantly more harmful strains of COVID we would look to whether or not we would needed to increase measures to protect the population through public health strategies."

He believes cases could start to decline again in April.

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