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Social distancing rules advising people to stay 2m (6ft) apart remain in place in Northern Ireland, the first minister has said.
Discussions are continuing within the executive about reducing the distance to 1m, Arlene Foster said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 1m is safe - but some countries, including the UK, have gone further.
Mrs Foster said the medical advice was that staying 2m apart was the "safest place to be".
Last week, Economy Minister Diane Dodds said she wanted health officials to provide guidance about reducing the distance, as it would make it more viable for the tourism and hospitality sectors to operate.
Speaking to BBC News NI on Wednesday, Mrs Foster said the issue was a matter of discussion and about "managing risk".
It was also about the length of time people spent close to each other, she said, adding that ministers were looking at how people could move to a 1m scenario in different settings.
Murphy lockdown claim rejected
Asked about claims from the Finance Minister Conor Murphy that a better resourced health service would have prevented the lockdown, Mrs Foster said she "did not want to get into a political row".
She said lockdowns have happened "right across the world", and that the executive wanted to make sure the health service was "not overwhelmed" during the coronavirus pandemic.
Northern Ireland went into lockdown along with the rest of the UK in March.
Mr Murphy told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that Northern Ireland would have been fit to cope with the pandemic, if it had a "very robust health service which was well resourced".
But "years of austerity" from Westminster had left the health service in a challenging position and led to the imposition of the lockdown, said the finance minister.
"The reason we had to go into lockdown, and people should understand this, is because the health service has been under-resourced through austerity cuts over many years," he said.
"So any attempt to deal with that is a big challenge, that's what we've been doing, and any attempt to restructure our health service is a huge challenge for the executive because we still suffer from the effects of nine years of austerity and our budgets are challenged across many departments."
Robin Swann, Stormont's health minister, said he took exception to the comments.
"No health service could have coped with running the dual process, it's not because we weren't up to it but that's how every other country managed Covid-19," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show.
"I'll agree with him (Conor Murphy) on the fact that our health service is under-resourced, but it's not the reason we went into lockdown."
Northern Ireland went into lockdown along with the rest of the UK at the end of March, when wide-ranging restrictions were imposed through new legislation.
Childcare discussions
The regulations are reviewed every three weeks and have already been extended and amended a number of times, as ministers have agreed to gradually lift some restrictions.
Mrs Foster was speaking as she was visiting a childcare business in Moygashel, County Tyrone.
She also said she had raised the issue of opening childcare centres with Mr Swann.
It is understood that Department of Health panels will meet on Thursday to assess when certain childcare centres can open.
All non-essential retailers are scheduled to reopen on Friday, and there have been concerns raised about a lack of clear guidance for the childcare sector so far.