Source: Covid-19 New Zealand Government Announcements
Update from the Ministry of Health
The growth in hospitalisations and patients in ICU is not unexpected, has been planned for and is another reminder that vaccination is our best defence against COVID-19.
With cases escalating in the community the Ministry of Health is urging all New Zealanders who are due their booster to get it as soon as possible in order to reduce your chance of serious illness and hospitalisation.
This means a highly boosted New Zealand will help ensure there is capacity in our health system for anyone who needs care.
31,217 booster doses were administered yesterday, but 30.5% of people who are currently due their booster have not yet had it. We urge those people to make a plan to get boosted as soon as they can.
We are also beginning to see people who have attended the protest at Parliament, a location of interest and potential super spreader event, showing up in hospitals around the country after returning home. We advise all those currently at the protest, or who have been at the protest, who are displaying cold and flu symptoms to get a test and isolate until they receive their result.
Rapid antigen testing
As the Omicron outbreak grows, RATs are now used as the primary test at all community testing centres and by GPs for diagnostic purposes. They will make the decision on which test is most appropriate for you. PCR testing is being reserved for those people who most need it.
The Ministry of Health advises people to only get tested if they have symptoms or have been directed to do so by a health professional.
Please do not seek testing if you are well as this delays testing for people who are unwell.
Please be patient with staff at testing centres, and GP clinics. They are doing their best to cope with high demand for testing.
People who use a RAT will get their results within 20 minutes, which will help identify cases sooner, reduce testing wait times and minimise disruption to business and ensure critical services and infrastructure workforce can continue operating.
It is very important to the overall response that people self-report positive results for RATs through My Covid Record (external link), so we understand the size of the outbreak.
We’d like to thank the thousands of people who have been tested and already self-reported positive RAT results.
Care
For most people, including children, they will be able to recover from COVID-19 at home, with their family or others they live with, like they normally would with a cold or flu.
If you or your child start to feel worse, please stay at home and call your GP or Healthline on 0800 358 5453. All GP and urgent care clinic appointments for COVID-19 are free.
If you or a family member becomes very unwell, such as like having difficulty breathing or chest pains, call 111 immediately. The ambulance will be free.
Hospital emergency departments are very busy, so please only go if it’s an emergency.
Business
Under Phase 3 of the Omicron response there is no requirement for non-critical workers to have a COVID-19 test before they come to work, whether a RAT or PCR. Employers who are not part of the Close Contact Exemption Scheme, are reminded that they should not be requesting this of their non-critical workers.
Read the full update on today’s cases | health.govt.nz (external link)
