Minister Chris Hipkins announced that New Zealand will move to phase 3 of the Omicron response following a rise in new case numbers and hospitalisations.
The Government’s latest release states: As daily case numbers and hospitalisations rise, it’s time to move on to the next phase of our Omicron response. We will be changing our approach to testing and isolation, helping to slow the spread while also protecting our most vulnerable, ensuring critical services and supply chains keep running, and easing pressure on our health system.
The key changes include:
➡️ Rapid antigen tests (RATs) will be used more, rather than PCR tests, to enable quick testing of those at higher risk of testing positive.
➡️ Most people will need to self-manage COVID-19 at home – this means those with symptoms or who test positive will need to self-identify and volunteer their information for contact tracing.
➡️ Only positive cases, people with COVID-19 symptoms, and household contacts of people with COVID-19 need to isolate. Close Contacts no longer need to isolate, unless they have symptoms.
➡️ The Close Contact Exemption Scheme remains available for critical workers that would otherwise be required to isolate due to being a household contact of someone with COVID.
New Zealand remains at Red, and businesses can operate as normal at Red with some additional measures in place.
As always, it’s important everyone keeps up healthy habits like physically distancing, mask wearing and hand hygiene during this period.
Once we pass the peak of Omicron, we can safely reduce some restrictions. This will likely include stepping down through the traffic lights, easing gathering limits and reconsidering the current use of vaccine mandates and passes where it makes sense to do so.
Find out more about the next phase of our Omicron response: https://covid19.govt.nz/phase3
