Dr Mark Veitch extended the public health emergency declaration by eight weeks rather than the maximum 12 weeks earlier this month with a view to removing further restrictions.

The declaration allows him to make orders that cover the entire population in Tasmania, rather than his normal powers which only extend to individuals, and it might not need to be extended again when it expires at the end of May.

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The public health emergency declaration has been in place since the start of the pandemic.

Dr Veitch said the effects of the removal of close contact quarantine requirements from Monday would be monitored in early May before a decision was made on further measures.

"There's a range of other measures that we still need to move on over the coming weeks," he said.

"I think it was foreseeable that by [the end of May], there could be some further transition of other measures such as mandates on masks and vaccination and the like.

"There are some other changes that will ensue over the next coming weeks.

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"But I think we need to be a bit cautious."

The Check-In TAS app will no longer need to be used at hospitality venues or events from Monday, but will still be required at hospitals and aged care facilities.

The business lobby had been calling on Tasmania to follow mainland states in removing close contact quarantine requirements, but Dr Veitch said declining case numbers was the main factor in his decision.

"We do understand how COVID epidemic waves occur and I think we're confident that they're coming down," he said.

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"We're also aware that the disruption socially and economically of people being kept at home as a close contact is really considerable, so we want to put in place some measures that we think are pretty close to equivalent to actually boxing people up for seven days."

Other states had shifted public health emergency powers from health officials to elected officials, but this did not occur in Tasmania.

Tasmanian Greens health spokesperson Rosalie Woodruff said the decision to remove close contact quarantine rules was "irresponsible and potentially harmful".

"Removing close contact isolation requirements won't solve workplace shortages. It will just mean more people get COVID, and more people risk getting long COVID post-viral syndrome and other serious long-term complications," she said.

The Health Department has confirmed COVID deaths are recorded when the virus is either the primary cause or is considered a contributing factor to a person's death.

This is determined by a doctor's assessment of each case during the death certificate process, department deputy secretary Dale Webster said, in a process that is followed nationally.

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Tasmania has recorded 18 COVID deaths so far in April compared with six in March, seven in February and five in January, for a total of 36 since borders reopened. There were 13 prior to December.

As of April 16, 33 per cent of the COVID deaths since December were among fully unvaccinated people, despite this cohort making up less than 1 per cent of Tasmania's adult population.

There have been no COVID deaths among under 50s since December, as per the latest surveillance report.

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