The Director-General of Health and Covid-19 Response Minister are laying out what is expected to be a move to phase three of the government’s Omicron response.
Watch the announcement live here from about midday: Here
The government initially set out the three phases of its Omicron response late last month, signalling an increasing reliance on automated systems and home isolation as growing case numbers threaten to overwhelm contact tracing, testing, and MIQ.
It was initially suggested New Zealand may never reach phase three, expected to trigger when the country was getting about 5000 cases a day, but that now seems inevitable with case numbers topping 3000 yesterday.
It would see further changes to contact tracing, with the definition of contacts shifting to household and household-like contacts, meaning only the highest-risk contacts will need to isolate.
Rapid antigen (RAT) tests would be considered sufficient to diagnose cases, who will be encouraged to fill out an online contact tracing form and self-notify their close contacts.
Clinical care and welfare support would be targeted based on need.
The nature of Omicron means daily cases are expected to double every three to five days, and the outbreak is not expected to peak for another three to six weeks.
With the caseload rising so rapidly, GPs have warned they may not be able to cope, and Covid-19 testing laboratories have been inundated with high levels of demand.
More to come…
