CHANGES TO PUBLIC HEALTH ORDERS (SELF ISOLATION)
Important changes to Public Health Orders relating to self-isolation requirements
The Health Minister has made the Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order 2022. The Order revokes and remakes the current Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No 4) 2021, with amendments:
- A household contact will only need to self-isolate for 7 days commencing from when the diagnosed person took the test, rather than 7 days from last contact with the diagnosed person (note that in practice this could end up being less than 7 days if the diagnosed person took a PCR test and it took a couple of days to get a positive result).
- A household contact is not obligated to self-isolate as a contact more than once in a 21 day period. This means that for 14 days after they complete their self-isolation period, a household contact is not obligated to self-isolate again if they are subsequently notified by another household contact.
- The change above only relates to self-isolation as a contact. If the household contact is diagnosed with COVID-19 they will need to self-isolate per the legal requirement for diagnosed cases, even if it is within the 21 day period.
- A person who had COVID-19 and later becomes a close contact or household contact does not need to self-isolate if it has been less than 8 weeks since they finished their self-isolation period (this is up from 28 days in the previous PHO).