The free provision of Covid-19 healthcare will be quietly dropped for many people beginning Monday next week.
The Covid-19 government website lists "changes to eligibility for free Covid-19 healthcare", which reduce the eligibility to only those considered to be at "higher risk of becoming very sick with Covid-19".
This category includes: people with high-risk medical conditions, Māori, Pacific peoples, people with disabilities, those over the age of 65 or anyone else that meets the criteria for access to antiviral medicines.
"With the Omicron variant circulating, most people can recover at home," the website says.
"This is due to very high vaccination levels and widespread natural immunity. Additionally, with easy access to testing and self-isolation, we can focus on those who are more vulnerable."
Recorded case numbers have continued to fall, with 8882 new cases reported last week. The seven-day rolling average of cases is now 1263.
Anyone with Covid-19 requiring hospital-level care will still get it for free.
Furthermore, rapid antigen tests (RATs) and Covid-19 vaccinations will remain free for all.
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