Health Act 1956

Management of infectious diseases - Contact tracing

92ZZB: Appropriateness of contact tracing

You could also call this:

"Deciding when to track down people who have been near someone with an infectious disease"

When you have an infectious disease, or people think you might have one, a contact tracer decides if they should try to find people you have been in contact with. The contact tracer will do this if they think it will help achieve the purpose of contact tracing. They want to make sure that contact tracing will be useful in this situation.

If the contact tracer is a medical officer of health, they can consider what your doctor recommends when making their decision. You can find more information about how this law was changed by looking at the Health (Protection) Amendment Act 2016. This law is part of the Health Act 1956, which helps keep people in New Zealand healthy and safe.

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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=DLM7086376.

92ZZA: Who may be contact tracer, or

"Who can help track people who have been near someone with an infectious disease?"

92ZZC: Duty of individual with infectious disease to provide information about contacts, or

"Telling others who you've been in contact with if you have a sickness that can spread"

Part 3AManagement of infectious diseases
Contact tracing

92ZZBAppropriateness of contact tracing

The contact tracer may form the view that contact tracing in respect of an individual with an infectious disease or suspected of having an infectious disease should be undertaken if the contact tracer considers that the purpose of contact tracing is likely to be achieved by doing so.
If the contact tracer is a medical officer of health, he or she may take into account any recommendation made by the individual’s medical practitioner.

Notes

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