Covid-19 NZ: What 'phase 2' of Omicron response will mean for isolation times, testing

Monday, 14 February 2022

Stuff health reporter Hannah Martin puts reader questions on Omicron to a panel of health experts.

EXPLAINER: New Zealand will move into “phase 2” of the Omicron response at 11.59pm on Tuesday night, shrinking isolation periods for cases and contacts.

This stage is intended to help the country manage an outbreak with far more active cases than in the first two years of the pandemic.

It is intended to help almost all cases isolate at home rather than in a quarantine facility, and to minimise disruption to the wider country.

Phase 2 makes far more use of rapid antigen testing and shortens isolation periods. Here are all the details.

* Covid-19 NZ: Government reveals critical workers who can test out of isolating as contacts

* Covid-19: Government lays out three-stage plan to handle Omicron outbreak

* Covid-19 NZ: Some essential workers will be able to get out of isolation with a rapid antigen test; 80 million on order

Bloomfield reiterated that point saying vaccination certificates, masking and distancing allows people to keep doing as much as possible, including sending children to school.

Self-isolation period shrinks

The isolation period for positive Covid-19 cases drops from 14 to 10 days. For close contacts, the isolation period goes from 10 days to 7 days.

Currently close contacts have to stay in isolation for 10 days.

But as the number of cases spiral up the Government is keen to reduce the amount of disruption this creates, so will be reducing the isolation period.

Rapid Antigen Testing will have a greater role under phase 2.

Close contacts of cases will be identified via the Covid-19 tracer app – both through QR scans and the Bluetooth proximity notifications. They will be notified via text and then directed to a website, and told to get a test on day 5.

Household contacts will be communicated with directly by contact tracing staff. Symptomatic ones will be treated as suspected cases.

The Government will look to support “most” positive cases to isolate within their own home, but says it will have some alternative accommodation options available across different regions.

Testing changes

Home or pharmacy-based Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will have a far greater role under phase 2.

Critical workers identified as contacts from a wide range of industries will be able to get out of isolation and go back to work if they return a negative daily RAT. They will still need to isolate outside of work.

Other contacts and symptomatic people will also be allowed to use RATs.

But anyone who returns a positive RAT will still have to undergo a more accurate PCR test to be confirmed as a case.

* CORRECTION: The isolation period for Covid-19 cases has dropped from 14 to 10 days. An earlier version of this story incorrectly said it had dropped to seven days. (Amended February 14, 2022, 5.31pm.)