Isolation period reduced from 10 to 7 days; third vaccine becomes available

The isolation period for COVID-19 cases and their household contacts will be reduced from 10 to 7 days.

• COVID-19 cases and Household Contacts to isolate for a week
• Two negative rapid antigen tests required for household contacts
• 250,000 Novavax vaccines here, people can book from tomorrow.

We remain committed to reducing the spread of Omicron to protect our health system and each other. However high case numbers and household contacts, and the current 10 day isolation requirement, is having a wider impact on many parts of our lives.
There needs to be a balance between effectively controlling the outbreak and the flow-on effect for business and essential goods and services such as transport and food supply.
The most up to date public health advice is that there is a decline in infectiousness of Omicron over time, and that in most cases transmission occurs within 7 days.
Our primary objective is to stop the chain of transmission as much as possible to manage the spread of Omicron. 7 days isolation will break the vast majority of potential transmissions, while ensuring people can get back to work quicker and therefore reducing the impact on business operations.”

The change will come into effect from 11:59pm Friday 11 March.

Click here to read the full update

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