Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Positive case visited Far North marae for tangihanga

Wainui Marae in Kaeo in the Far North District was visited by a person infected with Covid-19 from Friday 11am till Sunday 3pm. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Northlanders will have to wait until Whole Genome Sequencing is complete before learning whether a Covid case who visited a Far North marae had Omicron.

Wainui Marae, around 24km north of Kāeo, was identified as a location of interest by the Ministry of Health late on Thursday afternoon.

According to the ministry, the Covid case visited the marae last Friday from 11am till Sunday 3pm.

The Advocate understands the person attended a tangihanga for a Northland man, returned home to his whānau from Australia.

Everyone who attended the marae at the same time was being treated as a close contact while everyone outside of that period is deemed a casual contact.

The Ministry of Health is asking close contacts to self-isolate and get tested immediately, as well as on day five.

Whereas, casual contacts are asked to monitor for any symptoms of Covid-19. If symptoms appear people need to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

The marae had strict Covid-19 protocols in place during the tangihanga. These included requesting anyone unwell to stay home.

Other measures involved urging visitors to wear masks while at the marae, multiple hand sanitising stations, social distancing, and rigorous signing in protocols.

When guests arrived, they were met by a Māori Warden who asked each individual to fill in the Covid register or scan a QR code via the Covid Tracing App.

However, Dr Bart Willems, medical officer of health for Nga Tai Ora Public Health Northland, said there may have been others who visited and did not sign in.

"The [Wainui Marae] committee has been working closely with Public Health and their community to inform whānau members of the situation and encourages anyone who attended the tangi to self-isolate and get tested."

Willems said push notifications have been sent to everyone who scanned in at the event.

"If you were at the marae during the times and dates mentioned and are not already in isolation please self-isolate, test immediately and on day five after you were exposed at this location of interest."

As part of the marae's attempts to mitigate the risks posed by Covid-19 people were asked to stay in their vehicles until it was their turn for pōwhiri.

Then only groups of 15 were allowed in at a time which adhered to the Government guidelines.

Under the red setting, a marae can have multiple groups of 100 people coming through to attend a tangihanga — as long as the groups are not on the marae at the same time and do not mix with each other.

Upon entering no harirū (handshake), hongi, or hugs were permitted and people were asked to sit in their small group.

The marae took careful measures with shared meals where all the food was self-serve, meal times were arranged with whānau and were "strictly adhered to".

The kitchen was closed down outside of the meal times to undergo a deep clean.

Bubbles were arranged between the volunteers, who were supporting the whānau, to ensure there was no "cross over" that would "disturb different bubbles".