The Government has announced its three-phase plan, which aims to slow down and limit the spread of an Omicron outbreak. 

Announcing the plan on Wednesday afternoon, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall said the Government was setting out the changes ahead of large case numbers to give people a clearer idea of what to expect and what they need to do at each phase. 

New Zealand could see 1000 cases of Omicron a day and there’s modelling to suggest that after that, the country could see up to 10,000 daily cases. 

“Almost no country in the world has escaped Omicron and New Zealand is no exception. But where we can be an exception is how well we minimise the impact of the virus and protect our people from it," Verrall said in a statement. 

“Vaccination remains our most effective weapon against the virus. The Omicron variant is markedly less severe, than prior variants. One US report suggests the hospitalisation rate is 10 times less than the Delta variant. Its transmission and severity is also reduced by vaccination."

“So far, we’ve been focused on keeping Omicron out of the community for as long as possible while we roll out vaccinations to children and boosters for our adult population," Verrall said.

“Now that it is here, we expect case numbers to grow rapidly and put our health system under considerable pressure."

Here is the Government's three-phase plan:

In phase one of the plan, the Government is aiming to keep Covid-19 cases as low as possible. 

This means people will be required to wear medical or N95 masks when near other people, and at restaurants and bars while seated between eating. People will also need to scan into public places. 

Case investigation and contact tracing: Cases will be identified by a positive PCR test and called on the phone. Close contacts will be notified by phone, push notifications from QR scanning and locations of interest. 

People with symptoms will be asked to stay home and can only return to work once they have received a negative test result. 

Contact tracing will remain the priority when it comes to finding Omicron cases. 

Isolation: If a person tests positive for Covid-19, they must isolate at home for 14 days and get a day 5 and day 9 test.

Household contacts of positive cases must isolate for 10 days in phase one and must also get a day 5 test.

Testing: There will be PCR testing for people with symptoms and close contacts at GP or community testing centres. There will also be PCR testing for international arrivals. 

In phase two, the aim is to reduce case numbers to allow hospitalisation levels to remain low and for healthcare workers to be able to focus on the more vulnerable population.

Case investigation and contact tracing:  “Clear translatable and accessible formats” of notification (text, email or phone call) will be sent out by the Ministry of Health to inform those who are considered capable of looking after themselves, of test results.

Close contacts of all positive cases will be traced, notified and required to isolate.

Dr Verrall said close contacts were anyone who has stood 2 metres or less away from a positive case for at least 15 minutes.

Isolation: For positive cases, this will go from 14 days at home to 10 days, and household contacts change from 10 days at home to 7 days.

Testing: PCR testing will still be available. Rapid antigen tests may be used in addition to PCR testing for people with symptoms and close contacts. 

There will be 'test to return' if needed for asymptomatic healthcare and critical workforce staff who are close contacts using rapid antigen tests. PCR testing will be done to confirm the diagnosis if the rapid antigen test is positive.

In this phase, daily rapid antigen tests before coming into work will be mandatory for critical workers, who fall under these categories: Māori and Pasifika healthcare workers, workers whose roles need to be performed to prevent harm and harm of others and frontline healthcare workers.

In the final phase, cases will be in the thousands if not more. Most people will self-manage while health and social services focus on families and communities that have the highest needs. 

There are further adjustments to come for phase three, which Dr Verall says is not expected “in the coming weeks”.

Case investigation and contact tracing: Cases will be identified by positive PCR tests, positive rapid antigen tests or symptoms. They will be notified by text and directed to an online self-investigation tool. 

This tool targets very high-risk exposures and narrows the number of close contacts identified. 

Symptomatic household contacts will be probably cases but a test won't be required. 

Close contacts will be automatically notified from online self-investigation and there will be an option for cases to self-notify their contacts. Only high risk contacts will be traced and required to isolate. 

There will be a limited use of push notifications, locations of interest or Bluetooth. There will be ‘test to return’ for contacts who are health and critical infrastructure workers.

Isolation: Cases will need to isolate for 10 days and close contacts will need to isolate for 7 days. 

Testing: With so many cases per day, the focus will be on PCR testing for priority populations. Rapid antigen testing will also be used and available at GPs, pharmacies, community testing centres, or workplaces for symptomatic or critical workers. 

There will be ‘test to return’ for asymptomatic healthcare and critical workforce who are close contacts using rapid antigen testing. 

Top Image: Doctor putting plaster after Injecting COVID-19 vaccine into patient's arm in vaccination centre. (File photo) Photo: filadendron/iStock

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