Coronavirus COVID-19 information

COVID-19 health advice

At Alert Level 1 the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is now low, the Ministry of Health has shared these Golden Rules to help prevent further spread.

• If you’re sick, stay home. Don’t go to work or University. Don’t socialise.
• If you have cold or flu symptoms call your doctor or Healthline and make sure you get tested.
• Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
• Sneeze and cough into your elbow, and regularly disinfect shared surfaces.
• If you are told by health authorities to self-isolate you must do so immediately.
• If you’re concerned about your well-being, or have underlying health conditions, work with your GP to understand how best to stay healthy.
• Keep track of where you’ve been, when and who you’ve seen to help contact tracing if needed. Use the NZ COVID Tracer app as a handy way of doing this.
• Businesses should help people keep track of their movements by displaying the Ministry of Health QR Code for contact tracing.
• Stay vigilant. There is still a global pandemic going on. People and businesses should be prepared to act fast to step up alert levels if we have to.
• People will have had different experiences over the last couple of months. Whatever you’re feeling — it’s okay. Be kind to others. Be kind to yourself.

If you feel unwell and develop symptoms of COVID‑19, tell someone, and contact:

• Otago and Southland regions:
  0800 VIRUS19 (0800 847 8719) – a new centralised call service and free phone number helping streamline assessment and possible testing for COVID‑19 in the Southern region (Dunedin, Invercargill, and Queenstown).
• All other regions:
  0800 358 5453 or +64 9 358 5453 – the dedicated COVID‑19 Healthline number.

Further information

Previous updates

Archive of previous coronavirus COVID‑19 updates