New Zealand is at Alert Level 1
Auckland joined the rest of New Zealand at Alert Level 1 at 11:59pm on Wednesday 7 October.
New Zealand is currently at Alert Level 1.
The focus is now on protecting New Zealanders with:
- robust border controls
- continued surveillance and testing
- contact tracing capability and rapid isolation of new cases
- public support to prevent any further spread, like good hygiene and keeping records of movement.
Infection prevention and control measures are an ongoing priority to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and staff from all infections.
These could include the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) depending on the nature of care required.
For COVID-19 health advice and information, contact the Healthline team (for free) on 0800 358 5453 or +64 9 358 5453 for international SIMS
East Care is separating respiratory patients from non-respiratory to keep our waiting room safe. Masks are voluntary for patients and you can bring your own or purchase if you wish. You may see our clinicians still wearing masks so they remain protected as they get in close proximity to patients assessing and treating them so this keeps both you and us safe from both COVID 19 and other respiratory illnesses.
Health and disability services at Alert Level 1
New Zealand is now at Alert Level 1.
Last updated: 9 June
At Alert Level 1, the risk of exposure to COVID-19 and transmission in the community in New Zealand is very low. This means that generally, people can fully participate in society without any COVID-19 related restrictions, however strict border measures will remain.
It’s still important to keep in mind that COVID-19 is uncontrolled in many areas overseas, and we should not be complacent because COVID-19 can spread quickly if it re-emerges.
Using health and disability services at Alert Level 1
People attending a health or disability service may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 for a range of reasons. That is why it is important for health and disability services to continue to maintain infection prevention and control measures, and to collect information from patients and other people interacting with patients at their services.
Health and disability services will be running as normal under Alert Level 1 but some precautions will be in place to protect people who are vulnerable to severe COVID-19 from exposure to the virus.
This will include:
- strict adherence to infection prevention and control protocols;
- and screening on entrance to medical facilities, where staff may ask you if you have been overseas recently, had contact with anyone who has been overseas recently or had any potential recent exposure to COVID-19 such as being a close contact of a confirmed or probable case.
If you need to access healthcare, consider contacting your healthcare provider ahead of time so they can explain any different processes that are in place during Alert Level 1. COVID-19 related precautions are not expected to affect the availability or timeliness of health or disability services.
East Care is separating respiratory patients from non-respiratory to keep our waiting room safe.
Masks are voluntary for patients and you can bring your own or purchase if you wish.
You may see our clinicians still wearing masks so they remain protected as they get in close proximity to patients assessing and treating them so this keeps both you and us safe from both COVID 19 and other respiratory illnesses.
For more information visit the Ministry of Health website for Coronavirus which is updated regularly.
