COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021

Reprint as at 18 April 2021

Coat of Arms of New Zealand

COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021

(LI 2021/65)

Note

Changes authorised by subpart 2 of Part 2 of the Legislation Act 2012 have been made in this official reprint.

Note 4 at the end of this reprint provides a list of the amendments incorporated.

This order is administered by the Ministry of Health.

This order is made by the Minister for COVID-19 Response under sections 11 and 15(1) of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 in accordance with section 9 of that Act.

Order

1 Title

This order is the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021.

2 Commencement

(1)

Clause 7 comes into force on 27 April 2021.

(2)

The rest of this order comes into force at 11.59 pm on 21 April 2021.

3 Principal order

This order amends the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Order 2020 (the principal order).

4 Clause 4 amended (Interpretation)

In clause 4, insert in their appropriate alphabetical order:

affected item means—

(a)

an item (apart from cargo or freight) removed for cleaning, disposal, or re-use from an affected ship or a passenger area of an affected aircraft:

(b)

an item removed for cleaning, disposal, or re-use from a managed quarantine facility or a managed isolation facility

crew has the same meaning as in clause 4 of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Maritime Border) Order (No 2) 2020

have contact with, in relation to persons who belong to different groups, means—

(a)

having face-to-face contact within 2 metres of each other for 15 minutes or more; or

(b)

being in a confined space within 2 metres of each other for 15 minutes or more

relevant aircrew member means a person—

(a)

who is in isolation following a flight on which the person arrived in New Zealand; and

(b)

who was—

(i)

on the crew manifest for the flight; or

(ii)

on the flight at the direction of an airline for which the person carries out work as a pilot, co-pilot, or flight attendant

Clause 4: amended, at 11.59 pm on 18 April 2021, by clause 38 of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Air Border, Isolation and Quarantine, and Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021 (LI 2021/73).

5 Clause 7 amended (Affected person must undergo testing and medical examination)

After clause 7(2), insert:

(3)

Where an affected person must undergo recurring testing, the interval of days from one test to the next test may not exceed the length of the testing period that applies to the affected person.

Example

If the applicable testing period is every 7 days, and a person becomes an affected person on 22 April, the affected person’s first test must be no later than 29 April. If recurring testing is required, and the affected person was first tested on 23 April, the second test may not be later than 30 April. If the second test was on 28 April, the third test may not be later than 5 May.

6 Clause 9 amended (Scope of testing and medical examination)

(1)

Replace clause 9(a) with:

(a)

must involve any of (or a combination of any of) the following:

(i)

taking nose swabs:

(ii)

taking mouth swabs:

(iii)

taking saliva; and

(2)

In clause 9, insert as subclause (2):

(2)

In this clause, taking saliva means the method or methods by which saliva may be taken and analysed, including any conditions, that the Director-General has approved in a notice published—

(a)

on a publicly accessible Internet site maintained by or on behalf of the New Zealand Government; and

(b)

in the Gazette.

7 Clause 11 amended (Duty of relevant PCBU to keep record of testing and medical examination)

(1)

Replace clause 11(2)(a) with:

(a)

be entered on a register kept, maintained, and monitored by, or on behalf of, the Ministry of Health; and

(2)

In clause 11(2)(b), replace “made” with “be made”.

8 Schedule 2 amended

(1)

In Schedule 2, item 1.1, second column, replace “facility” with “facilities”.

(2)

In Schedule 2, item 2.1, second column, replace “facility” with “facilities”.

(3)

In Schedule 2, after item 2.2, insert:

2.3Health practitioners working at managed isolation facilitiesCommunity testing centre, testing centre at isolation facility, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 7 days starting on 22 April 2021

(4)

In Schedule 2, item 3.5, replace “handling” with “who handle”.

(5)

In Schedule 2, after item 3.10, insert:

3.11Baggage handlers who work at affected airports and who handle baggage from affected aircraftCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
3.12Persons (other than excluded airport persons) who spend no more than 15 minutes in enclosed space on board affected aircraftCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
3.13Health practitioners carrying out work airsideCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 7 days starting on 22 April 2021
3.14All landside workers who interact with relevant aircrew members (other than those arriving on QFT flights)Community testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021

(6)

In Schedule 2, items 4.1 to 4.5, replace “ship” with “ships”.

(7)

In Schedule 2, item 4.5, replace “persons” with “persons (other than crew)”.

(8)

In Schedule 2, after item 4.6, insert:

4.7Workers who transport crew to or from affected shipsCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected port, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 7 days starting on 22 April 2021

(9)

In Schedule 2, heading to Part 5, replace “Aircrew members” with “Groups in relation to aircrew members” .

(10)

In Schedule 2, item 5.1, replace “airport” with “affected airport”.

(11)

In Schedule 2, after item 5.1, insert:

5.2Health practitioners working at accommodation services (other than private dwellinghouses) where relevant aircrew members are self-isolatingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 7 days starting on 22 April 2021
5.3Workers at accommodation services (other than private dwellinghouses) where relevant aircrew members are self-isolatingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
Part 6: Groups in relation to affected items
6.1Workers who handle affected items within 72 hours of their removal from managed quarantine facilities and who have contact with members of groups specified in Part 1 or 2 while both are workingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at quarantine facility, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
6.2Workers who handle affected items within 72 hours of their removal from managed isolation facilities and who have contact with members of groups specified in Part 1 or 2 while both are workingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at isolation facility, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
6.3Workers who handle affected items within 24 hours of their removal from affected aircraft and who have contact with members of groups specified in Part 3 or 5 while both are workingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected airport, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021
6.4Workers who handle affected items within 72 hours of their removal from affected ships and who have contact with members of groups specified in Part 4 while both are workingCommunity testing centre, testing centre at affected port, or other healthcare facilityOnce every 14 days starting on 22 April 2021

Clause 8(5): amended, at 11.59 pm on 18 April 2021, by clause 39 of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Air Border, Isolation and Quarantine, and Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021 (LI 2021/73).

Dated at Wellington this 13th day of April 2021.

Hon Chris Hipkins,
Minister for COVID-19 Response.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.

Date of notification in Gazette: 13 April 2021.

Reprints notes
1 General

This is a reprint of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021 that incorporates all the amendments to that order as at the date of the last amendment to it.

2 Legal status

Reprints are presumed to correctly state, as at the date of the reprint, the law enacted by the principal enactment and by any amendments to that enactment. Section 18 of the Legislation Act 2012 provides that this reprint, published in electronic form, has the status of an official version under section 17 of that Act. A printed version of the reprint produced directly from this official electronic version also has official status.

3 Editorial and format changes

Editorial and format changes to reprints are made using the powers under sections 24 to 26 of the Legislation Act 2012. See also http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/editorial-conventions/.

4 Amendments incorporated in this reprint

COVID-19 Public Health Response (Air Border, Isolation and Quarantine, and Required Testing) Amendment Order 2021 (LI 2021/73): Part 3