NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Coronavirus: $500m for health resources including testing, treatment and contact tracing

Derek Cheng
By Derek Cheng
Senior Writer·NZ Herald·
17 Mar, 2020 01:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Focus Live: The Government has unveiled a $12.1 billion support package for the New Zealand economy.

Testing and treating people with Covid-19 and boosting capacity to trace close contacts are at the forefront of a $500 million boost to health services announced by the Government today.

The announcement was part of the $12.1 billion package in the Government's first phase of its attempt to ease the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.

The goal of the package is to keep job losses to a minimum and keep the health sector from being overwhelmed as the number of positive cases - currently at eight - rises.

READ MORE:
• Coronavirus: Uber driver worried about Covid-19 exposure after picking up sick passenger at Auckland Airport
• Coronavirus: What we know about NZ's eight Covid-19 cases
• Coronavirus: Spain reports 2000 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours
• Premium - Sideswipe: March 17: Parking protocol, Covid-19 tweets

"We will be investing in more health staff, more virus testing, more medicines, face masks, extra intensive care capacity and equipment at hospitals, and more money for GPs," Prime Minister Ardern said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If we can manage the virus, we can mitigate the damage to the economy."

The Government is also putting $126.5m to the Ministry of Social Development to pay up to 108,000 self-isolating or sick workers - or people who are caring for others with Covid-19 - for two-week periods over the next two months.

The payments will be $585.80 a week for full-time workers, or $350 for part-time workers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It will not be available to those who can work from home, nor to people leaving New Zealand who need to self-isolate for 14 days when they return.

Payments will be backdated to March 17.

The first phase of the $500m boost to health services includes funding for:

• $40m for Public Health Units, including contact tracing

Discover more

New Zealand

What we know about NZ's 12 coronavirus cases

17 Mar 05:50 PM
World

Spain reports 2000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, deaths double

15 Mar 05:28 PM
New Zealand

Coronavirus: Uber driver worried about Covid-19 exposure

16 Mar 01:16 AM

Status of Northland events in wake of Covid-19

16 Mar 08:00 PM

• $5m for more testing capacity

• $32m for freeing up ICU capacity and equipment at hospitals

• $50m in support for GPs and Covid-19 health centres

• $20m for Healthline capacity

• $20m for a GP telehealth service

• $10m for a public health campaign

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• $15m for mitigating the immediate and long-term psychosocial impact of Covid-19

The health sector was expected to come under enough strain for the Government to already be reaching out to retired health professionals to see if they could help, Health Minister David Clark said.

DHBs were also looking to set up specific Covid-19 health centres, though Clark said where they were and how many there would be would depend on each region's needs.

Health Minister David Clark. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Health Minister David Clark. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Most of the $40m boost to Public Health Units would be for contact tracing, he said.

There would be more cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand and Clark said that hospitals needed to be ready with more ICU capacity and primary care.

"A further $20m will be invested in improving the capacity of general practice and community health providers to use technology such as video conferencing and telehealth to conduct consultation."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said Healthline, which is taking more than 5000 calls a day, also needed more funding so that doctors and nurses can provide clinical advice over the phone.

A further $205m would go towards the second phase of the health response to ensure there were sufficient medicines, flu vaccines and face masks, while $50m would go towards boosting pharmacy and ambulance support, Aged Residential Care hospital beds, and supporting people staying at home.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Media Insider

TVNZ news in the spotlight: Independent review will check for balance, bias

07 Jul 06:02 PM
Premium
Opinion

Property Insider: Mansons begins Graham St project; free car with Westgate home; how’s Resido going?

07 Jul 05:00 PM
New Zealand

'Long-term strategy': How iwi are outpacing major NZ companies

07 Jul 05:00 PM

Audi offers a sporty spin on city driving with the A3 Sportback and S3 Sportback

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
TVNZ news in the spotlight: Independent review will check for balance, bias

TVNZ news in the spotlight: Independent review will check for balance, bias

07 Jul 06:02 PM

Former Australian news boss will lead trust review; TVNZ forecasts $48.5m loss in 2026.

Premium
Property Insider: Mansons begins Graham St project; free car with Westgate home; how’s Resido going?

Property Insider: Mansons begins Graham St project; free car with Westgate home; how’s Resido going?

07 Jul 05:00 PM
'Long-term strategy': How iwi are outpacing major NZ companies

'Long-term strategy': How iwi are outpacing major NZ companies

07 Jul 05:00 PM
Qantas cyberattack: Potential criminal makes contact with airline

Qantas cyberattack: Potential criminal makes contact with airline

07 Jul 11:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP