COVID-19

A rapid antigen test (RAT) is the preferred method of testing for COVID-19, however, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens may be considered as part of outbreak investigation and management in aged residential care facilities. This must be approved by the local Public Health Service. 

The testing section of the COVID-19 chapter of the Communicable Disease Control Manual has been updated to reflect this amended advice.     

RAT testing continues to be an important method to enable people who meet Pharmac's eligibility criteria to access COVID-19 antiviral treatment medicine, to reduce the impact of the virus on those at higher risk of severe illness.   

Public health advice for the management of COVID-19 remains unchanged. Testing for COVID-19 using a RAT is still recommended and those with a positive test result should isolate for at least 5 days, even if they only have mild symptoms, and follow the guidance for people with COVID-19.   

Public health advice is available for those who test negative for COVID-19 or have not tested, to guide people on what to do if they have symptoms of a respiratory illness and how to reduce the risk of spreading it on to others. 

From 1 July 2024, the funding for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines and supply of COVID-19 antivirals via community pharmacy is changing. Te Whatu Ora continues to transition its health response to COVID-19 so it is managed in a similar way to other communicable diseases, but some funded COVID-19 services remain available for people to access to support them with the prevention and management of COVID-19 throughout the winter months - particularly for those most at risk.

COVID-19 vaccination services: COVID-19 vaccines remain funded and are available to eligible people aged 6 months and over through their local primary care healthcare provider, GP or community pharmacy.

The current agreements for COVID-19 vaccine Price Per Dose administration (PPD) are due to expire 30 June 2024. These will be extended from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. Following the agreement extension, it is intended that the service will be integrated into the Primary Health Organisation Service Agreement (PHOSA).

The Business Day PPD rate of $36.05 will continue until 30 June 2025. The existing out-of-hours PPD rate of $48.72 will cease from 30 November 2024. When the out-of-hours rate ceases, the usual business day rate of $36.05 will apply to all COVID-19 vaccines administered. Read more about the pricing.

Paxlovid Community Pharmacy Service From 1 July 2024: Community Pharmacies will have the opportunity to continue to supply Paxlovid both pursuant to a prescription and as a pharmacist only medicine.
The proposed Paxlovid Community Pharmacy Service funding has been scaled down, compared to the previous Care in the Community Pharmacy service schedule. The decision to continue to fund, at a reduced rate, pharmacist-initiated supply of Paxlovid has been taken to reduce winter pressures on primary care.

To understand what pharmacies in your area are supplying Paxlovid please refer to the relevant Healthpoint pages, which community pharmacies have been asked update.

• Pharmacies supplying Paxlovid as a pharmacist only medicine.
• Pharmacies supplying Paxlovid pursuant to a prescription.

In addition to supply through community pharmacy designated rural practices can also order Paxlovid via a practitioners supply order (PSO).

Read more in this Te Whatu Ora letter.

A number of COVID-19 technology products were developed to support the health system response during the course of the pandemic. This enabled:

• the management of COVID-19 models of care and delivery of appropriate and effective cross-sector health care services
• the collation of COVID-19 data and information, to enable the public health and clinical management of individuals and the management of outbreaks in high-risk settings.

Te Whatu Ora continues to transition its health response to COVID-19, so it is managed in a similar way to other communicable diseases. Te Whatu Ora has reviewed the use of the COVID-19 technology products and any potential impact of changes to the use of these technologies on the healthcare sector and delivery of health care to New Zealanders. 

The COVID-19 Clinical Care Module (CCCM)

The CCCM was designed for primary health care providers, pharmacies, Community Hubs and hospitals to have a platform for teams to provide shared care to patients and their whānau, and to report COVID-19 cases, providing a valuable national resource of data and information to inform planning. 

The use of the CCCM has been steadily decreasing for some time, and with community hubs ceasing from 30 June 2024, a decision has been made to decommission the CCCM. Access to the CCCM primary healthcare providers, such as GP’s and urgent care will cease, effective 1 August 2024. This will allow time to communicate this change and decommission the technology. 

GPs should continue to report COVID-19 cases via Healthlink as COVID-19 remains a notifiable disease and this test result will automatically flow through to the Notifiable Disease Management System. 

GP notifications

As COVID-19 remains a notifiable disease, people can self-test using a RAT and Te Whatu Ora recommend people report a positive RAT result via MyHealthRecord, or by calling the assisted channel. Once a positive result is reported, a text message is sent to the person providing information to support them to access any help and support they might need.

To date, GP notifications have been in place for all self-reported positive test results. This means, when a person reports a RAT result via MyHealthRecord, their general practitioner receives a notification of that result in their Patient Management System (PMS) inbox. 

Positive COVID-19 RAT results that have been provided to GP’s have not always required action from a clinician (for example that the patient isn’t eligible for antiviral medicines and do not feel unwell enough to require treatment). 

The technology supporting notifications to GPs is being decommissioned, effective 1 August 2024, therefore you will no longer receive notifications of self-reported RAT results.

This will align COVID-19 with other ‘point of care’ tests where patients self-test and proactively contact their healthcare provider for treatment if needed. 

GPs will continue to receive notifications from labs about any notifiable disease that is tested for with a PCR. 

The text message a person receives when they self-report a positive RAT result has been updated and they are taken through a questionnaire to assess if they are eligible for antiviral medicines. If they are unwell, or if it appears they’re eligible, they are recommended to contact their healthcare provider or a participating community pharmacy. The GP will not be aware of a self-reported RAT result, so will not contact them.

This is to advise that from 1 July 2024, a small number of COVID-19-specific telehealth services funded by Te Whatu Ora and provided by Whakarongorau Aotearoa / New Zealand Telehealth Services, are being decommissioned.  

This is because New Zealand has moved beyond the COVID-19 pandemic response, and demand for specific COVID-related services – including some telehealth services – has reduced over time.   

Te Whatu Ora will manage COVID-19 as part of business as usual. This is consistent with their approach to managing other communicable diseases across the health system, with a number of COVID-19 pandemic-specific services already disestablished as part of this process. 

The services no longer available from 1 July 2024 include: 

• the Clinical Advice Line (0800 177 622): a non-public facing service providing clinical advice from doctors, for community and health providers.  
• the COVID Healthline (0800 358 5453): providing information and advice about COVID-19. From 1 July, people should instead call Healthline on 0800 611 116 for advice about COVID. 
• Healthline doctor support: from 1 July, there will be no Healthline doctor support, but Healthline nurses and paramedics will continue to provide expert, trusted health advice, treatment, and information.   

For further information and support after 1 July, please refer to: 

• Immunisation Advisory Centre
• National Public Health Service (including Regional Public Health contacts) 
• Healthpoint
• Ka Ora Rural Clinical Telehealth Service (note practices in rural areas can also sign up to this service) 
• Other Whakarongorau-run telehealth services
• Health NZ guidance for health professionals
• We also encourage providers who offer virtual consultation services to offer this option to their patients, where appropriate.  

(Note that members of the public can still call Healthline for free 24/7 on 0800 611 116 for health advice, information and support).  

Te Whatu Ora acknowledges the ongoing efforts of all healthcare professionals and Whakarongorau Aotearoa in supporting New Zealanders to access healthcare services. 

From 01 July 2024, Te Whatu Ora will transition its health response to COVID-19 and manage it as it does other communicable diseases and respiratory conditions. From 1 July 2024, there are important changes that you need to be aware of.

1. Primary Care providers (general practice, hauora providers, pacific health providers and urgent care) will no longer be able to claim for funded COVID-19 related consultations. Consultations for COVID-19 will be funded via capitation through the PHO services agreement, and co-payments may be charged.
2. Existing community pharmacy funding arrangements cease on 30 June 2024, but consideration is currently being given to how community pharmacies can be supported to continue supplying COVID-19 antivirals from 1 July 2024.
3. Personal protective equipment (PPE) will no longer be available for order from the Health NZ Central Supply. If you wish to continue using and supplying these items you will need to source them from the private/domestic market.
4. COVID-19 vaccines will only be available through community pharmacy, general practice, Hauora Māori and Pacific Health providers and only to those who meet the vaccine eligibility criteria as established by Pharmac. 

Free rapid antigen tests (RATs) from the Te Whatu Ora central supply will continue to be available for providers to access until 30 September 2024. Provider access to personal protective equipment from the Te Whatu Ora central supply will end on 30 June 2024. Free RATs will also remain available to the public via Te Whatu Ora's Māori and Pacific distribution channel until 30 September 2024.

COVID-19 vaccines remain free and available to eligible people aged 6 months and over. Pharmac has not made changes to the funded eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccines and there are no changes planned for 1 July 2024. The current eligibility criteria will still apply from 1 July 2024. If Pharmac were to consider changes to the eligibility criteria, they will consult publicly to ensure feedback from the healthcare sector and the community is considered before making any changes. For more information about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, including eligibility criteria, visit the Pharmac website.

You can view and download Unite Against COVID-19 branded assets and resources through the COVID-19 Resource Toolkit.