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Close Contact Exemption Scheme

The Government has announced which businesses can apply to be part of the Close Contact Exemption scheme. Please note that this scheme is only available for use in Phases 2 & 3 of Omicron. In Phase 1, all businesses must follow Public Health advice for isolation requirements. 

The Close Contact Exemption Scheme is for critical services only. It allows a worker who is an asymptomatic, vaccinated, close contact to return to work, provided certain health measures are in place.

Critical services include food production and its supply chain, key public services like health and emergency services, lifeline utilities such as power and water supplies, transport, critical financial services, news media and social welfare. It also includes human and animal health and welfare.

Businesses and organisations can register online as a critical service if they think they meet the criteria. There is a tool on business.govt.nz to help businesses self-assess. Registration is a self-declaration and will be able to be checked. It is not an approval.

On completing registration, businesses will be issued with a letter including a unique identifier. This letter will be part of the documentation a worker will need in order to collect a free RAT kit from a collection site, once the scheme comes into effect for phases 2 and 3.

It is up to businesses to self-assess and decide if they want to participate in the scheme. In doing so there needs to be an awareness that bringing close contacts into the workplace will come with risks.

Workers identified for the scheme will need to be vaccinated. If at any point they return a positive test, they will need to isolate and take a PCR test.

Bubble of One 

People who either work alone, or have the capacity to do so, will be able to continue operating in a “bubble of one” if they are identified as a contact of a COVID-19 case.

Any business or service where the worker can operate in isolation from other staff and customers can use the Bubble of One. This includes sole traders. You will need to be able to do your job without interacting with others at any stage of your close contact period. 

Workers can continue to work if they are vaccinated, don’t have symptoms and don’t have contact with anyone else. These guidelines apply to any workers, not just critical workers, and do not require them to return regular tests.

All services and businesses (including government agencies) are able to use “Bubble of One” for any worker, provided they can meet the requirements set out below. There are no registration requirements.

The Bubble requirement is met if the worker is undertaking work in an indoor or outdoor defined space, where there are no others present in that space (a defined space is either a room with no direct airflow into other spaces, or an outdoor space that is at least 2 metres away from other people at all times). 

Workers who are entering a person’s home should discuss the bubble requirements with the client in the first instance.

The worker must be: