It means there are now 938 cases in the island state, almost twice the 520 active infections from the day before.

Premier Peter Gutwein said, with a highly vaccinated population, Tasmania would not be heading into lockdown or closing its borders because of the climbing case numbers.

But the government is changing contact tracing and isolation rules.

Close contacts required to quarantine will be people in a "household or household-like" situation, Mr Gutwein said.

As it moves away from PCR tests for everyone who needs screening, the state is working with Australia Post for its 170 Tasmanian post offices to become distribution points for rapid antigen tests.

"It's important that we continue to prioritise our PCR testing for those who are symptomatic, and those who have undertaken RAT tests and then have had a positive result," Mr Gutwein told reporters.

Positive cases will now be notified by an SMS before receiving more information from the public health team.

They will also receive a survey in a text message that helps to identify individuals the government may consider priority contacts.

The majority of Tasmania's active cases, 224, are being managed at home, while there are 79 people in community management clinics.

One hospital patient is being treated specifically for COVID-19 symptoms, while another person with COVID-19 is being treated for an unrelated medical condition.

Tasmania was free of the virus when it reopened to fully vaccinated travellers from mainland hotspots on December 15.

On Friday, Tasmania had reported 137 new cases and had 520 active cases.

On Thursday it scrapped the requirement for travellers to take a PCR test in the 72-hour period before travel to the state, moving to a rapid antigen test one day before arriving.

Australian Associated Press