This section provides the latest updates, information and advice on COVID-19.
Current situation
New Zealand has 1,498 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. More information is available on our current cases page.
Alert Level 2
On Thursday 14 May New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2 - Reduce.
- Find out about Health and disability services at Alert Level 2.
- More information about Alert Level 2 is available on the COVID 19 website.
Following the move to Alert Level 2 we're working hard to get our content updated as soon as possible.
Important updates
- Contact tracing phone calls: If you have been identified as a close contact, you can expect calls from Ministry of Health and Healthline. It is important to answer your phone. Find out how to recognise a call from the Ministry or Healthline at Contact tracing.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE): What's important for you to know about PPE.
- Breaches of COVID-19 restrictions: If you're concerned about a breach of current COVID-19 restrictions, you can report it to the COVID-19 Compliance Centre.
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.
- About COVID-19: Symptoms, spread and where to get help
- Assessment and testing
- Caring for yourself and others at home
- Contact tracing
- Face mask and hygiene advice
- Managing your health conditions
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Protecting yourself and others
- Questions and answers
- Self-isolation for close contacts
- Advice for all health professionals
- Allied health professionals
- Cancer and screening services
- Case definition
- Funded temporary accommodation
- Health sector providers
- Join the COVID-19 surge workforce
- Maternity
- Medical transfer
- Mental health and addiction
- PPE use in health care
- Pharmacy
- Primary care
- Recording COVID-19
- Telehealth and online tools
- Well Child providers
Latest updates
Our advice is under active review and is updated regularly. The latest updates include the following changes to the website:
15 May:
- Updated: Personal protective equipment use for non-health workers
- Updated: Personal protective equipment use in health care
- Updated: Information for Hospice providers
14 May:
- Updated: Visiting policy in aged residential care under Alert Level 2
- Added: Information on Alert Level 2 for disabled people
- Added: Disability Support Services at Alert Level 2
- Added: About COVID-19
- Added: Assessment and testing for COVID-19
- Added: Protecting yourself and others from COVID-19
- COVID-19 quarantine and managed isolation numbers
- Quarantine and managed isolation at Alert Level 2
13 May:
- Updated: Advice for community allied health, scientific and technical providers
- Updated: Advice for older people and their family and whanau
- Alert Level 2 guidance for Well Child Tamariki Ora
- Deaths, funerals and tangihanga: what happens at Alert Level 2
- Updated: Information for pregnant women, and those who have recently given birth
- Information for radiologists on community-based maternity ultrasounds at Alert Level 2
- Health and disability services at Alert Level 2
- Updated: COVID-19: Information for parents during Alert Level 2
12 May:
- Support for parents with new babies
- Health Act (COVID-19 Alert Level 3) Amendment Order 2020
- Updated data on COVID-19 testing rates for ethnicity and DHB
- Clinical guidance for responding to patients with an intellectual (learning) disability during COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Funded temporary accommodation for front-line workers
11 May:
- Added: Guidelines for mental health and addiction providers
- Updated: Personal protective equipment use for non-health workers
- Updated: Ventilators and ICU bed capacity
- Mental health resources for disability support service providers
- Border advisory - 9 May 2020
9 May:
- Case and contact management: Monitoring and reporting to achieve and sustain elimination of COVID-19
8 May:
- Updated: PPE use in health care
- Added: Frequently asked questions about PPE
- Scenarios to help you keep your bubble safe under Alert Level 3
- Advice for community allied health, scientific and technical providers
- Updated: Advice to airline crew on precautions to reduce risk of COVID-19 infection
- Working paper: Background and overview of approaches to COVID-19 pandemic control in Aotearoa/New Zealand
- Deaths, funerals and tangihanga updated
- Managing your bubble during COVID-19
7 May:
- Guidelines for personal protective equipment: Disability support and care workers who work in client’s homes
- Updated: Personal protective equipment requirement for community care providers who are providing care in people’s place of residence
- Updated: Frequently asked questions about personal protective equipment
- Review of science and policy around face masks and COVID-19
- Updated: Advice to airline crew on precautions to reduce risk of COVID-19 infection