Move to Phase 3 of the Government’s Omicron response at 11.59pm tonight
The Government has announced that New Zealand will move to Phase 3 of the Omicron response at 11.59pm on Thursday 24 February 2022.
The move to Phase 3 means that only confirmed cases and household contacts (people who live in the same house) will be required to isolate.
Critical workers can use RAT tests daily so they can go to work even if they are a household contact, so long as their employer is signed up to the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) close contract exemption scheme (CCES) scheme.
Other people should monitor for symptoms but are not required to self-isolate.
Below is a summary of what happens under Phase 3.
Testing
- Rapid antigen tests (RATs) will be considered enough to diagnose symptomatic people.
- RATs should be more readily available from doctors, pharmacies and community testing centres.
- Critical workers can use these tests daily to be able to go to work even if they are a close contact, so long as their employer is signed up to the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Close Contract Exemption Scheme (CCES) scheme.
Case and contact management
- Under Phase 3, people testing positive will be notified by text message, not a phone call, and will be sent a link to complete an online contact tracing form.
- You can access your Covid test results and record RAT test results on mycovidrecord.health.nz
- Contacts may be automatically notified from the contact tracing form, but cases can also be expected to notify their close contacts themselves.
- Workers should continue to notify their employer as soon as they receive a positive test.
Isolation
- Isolation times remain the same as the shorter period introduced in phase two: 10 days for cases, seven days for contacts.
Using RATs in the workplace
The Ministry of Health has updated its guidance for Critical Workers using RAT tests.
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