Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL (Associate Minister of Health): Contact tracing continues to be one of the key parts of our COVID response. It has served New Zealand well through the pandemic. The good work of our contact tracers is undoubtedly one of the reasons that the current Omicron outbreak has yet to see the rapid growth seen overseas. That's given hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders the opportunities to get boosted. But we do expect case numbers to continue to grow to levels that we have not experienced in New Zealand previously. That's why today, alongside the COVID-19 response Minister, I announced details of the close contact exemption scheme. The scheme is designed to keep critical supply chains operating by allowing some vaccinated close contacts to keep working if they return a negative rapid antigen test.