Q&A: What are the new close contact rules, and what are the risks?

All positive cases of Covid are now required to isolate for only seven days. This is reduced from the previous 10 day isolation period. File picture

As of midnight Thursday, rules for close contacts of people who are Covid-19 positive will be relaxed in order to ease staffing pressures, allowing people to return to the workplace.

But what exactly are those changes and will they bring higher risk to the public?