Healthcare workers who have been identified as close contacts, but have no symptoms, will be ordered back to work in NSW in 'exceptional' circumstances.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard signed off on the exemption late on New Year's Eve, with Health saying the move will make sure 'key services are not disrupted.'
If those doctors, nurses or other staff develop symptoms they will be banned from the workplace and must get a PCR test and isolate until they get a result.
Close contact healthcare workers must also travel directly to and from their workplace.
They will also be ordered to wear a mask at all times at work except when eating, drinking, or needing to take it off for work.
NSW Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes slammed the move on the Today Show on Saturday.
'This is a knee-jerk reaction. What concerns me is, we're in the (Covid) grind now - do people have a work-life balance, do they then choose life as opposed to work?
'Do we see the Great Resignation? These are very tired health workers who deserve a bit better than to be told with 40 minutes' notice "You've got to turn up and we'll tell you where and when"'.
Mr Hayes said making the announcement on New Year's Eve was 'pretty ordinary' and 'reckless'.
Under rules agreed by national cabinet on Thursday, most close contacts need to isolate for seven days from the date of exposure.
In NSW, close contacts are defined as people who have been exposed for more than four hours in a home, or in settings where Health has determined there is a high level of transmission.
Australia has more than 137,000 active cases as of the beginning of the New Year.
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