Health Act 1956

Management of infectious diseases - Orders - Urgent public health orders

92ZF: Medical officer of health may make urgent public health order

You could also call this:

"A doctor can make a special order to keep you safe and stop you spreading a sickness to others."

If a medical officer of health thinks someone is a risk to public health, they can take action. You might be a risk if you have an infectious disease that could spread to others. The medical officer of health can make an urgent public health order if they think you need to be detained to stop the disease spreading.

The medical officer of health can sign an order that says you must stay at a certain place, like a hospital, and they can add conditions to the order. If the disease you have is not a notifiable disease, the medical officer of health needs to get approval from the Director-General before they can give you the order.

The medical officer of health must write the date and time on the order when they give it to you, and they must send a copy of the order to the Director-General.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7086348.

92ZE: Relationship between directions and public health orders, or

"What happens when you get a direction and a public health order from the court"

92ZG: Duration of urgent public health order, or

"How long an urgent public health order lasts to keep you safe"

Part 3AManagement of infectious diseases
Orders: Urgent public health orders

92ZFMedical officer of health may make urgent public health order

This section applies if a medical officer of health believes on reasonable grounds that—
an individual poses a public health risk; and
the medical officer of health cannot adequately manage the public health risk by giving the individual a direction; and
to address the risk, the medical officer of health needs to take urgent action; and
it is not practicable to wait for the District Court to determine an application for a public health order.

The medical officer of health may sign and give, or authorise another person to give, the individual an urgent public health order that requires the individual to be detained at specified premises or specified parts of premises, subject to any stated conditions.
If the infectious disease that the individual is believed to have is not a notifiable disease, the urgent public health order must not be given to the individual without the prior approval of the Director-General.
The medical officer of health must write on the order the date and time it is given to the individual.
The medical officer of health must send to the Director-General a copy of the urgent public health order.

Notes

Section 92ZF: inserted, on 4 January 2017, by section 11 of the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 35).