Bloomfield: ‘Be mindful about who you visit’ as Covid cases surge

New Zealanders are being urged to be mindful about who they visit over the coming weeks, with Covid-19 cases surging, and the definition of close contacts changed.

The country on Thursday night will move to Phase 3 of the Omicron response, which sees the definition of close contacts changed to household or household-like contacts only.

Only someone who has Covid-19 or their household contacts needs to isolate.

It's also now up to the positive case to notify their close contacts.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield emphasised the importance of those with Covid to let people know if they've been in contact with them.

“For everybody, for all of us, this is a time to be really mindful about who you visit over these coming weeks and it’s not the time to go and visit older relatives in aged residential care if you might have been a contact."

He said notifying close contacts means they can manage who they are seeing, and where they are going.

“They may need to let their employer know if they’re a critical worker for example, and likewise they may need to, for example, modify what they do - not visit older relatives or people who may be susceptible if there’s a risk they were a contact,” he said.

“That’s why we’re asking cases to self-register and let their contacts know because they may need to take appropriate precautions.”

On Thursday there were 6137 Covid-19 community cases in New Zealand.