It was a busy holiday weekend Sunday for surf lifeguards at some Northland beaches.
Lifeguards at Ocean Beach, at Whāngarei Heads, rescued a 16-year-old male swimmer caught in a hole who was brought to shore in an IRB. The club also helped 8-year-old boogie boarders caught in a rip. Lifeguards pushed them onto waves so they could return to shore. Guards at a number of beaches treated multiple minor injuries, including Waipū Cove and Red Beach.
Van crash
A van towing a trailer went into a ditch near Waiotu Block Rd, Hukerenui, shortly before 3pm, briefly disrupting traffic on SH1 north of Whangārei on Monday while the van was extracted from the ditch. No injuries were reported.
Yesterday's Covid cases
Five new Covid cases were recorded in Northland yesterday. Three of the cases were based in Kerikeri two of these were linked to Omicron and only one had been in isolation prior to testing positive. The fourth was in the Bay of Islands - linked to Omicron. The fifth was a person with Delta in Whangārei. There were 21 active cases in Northland from a total number of 135 confirmed cases, none of whom were in hospital. There were 126 new community cases recorded across the country. The health board said there had been one new wastewater notification in Rawene.
Marae on the list
Wainui Marae, near Kāeo in the Far North, has been classed as a high-risk location of interest despite whole genome sequencing being unable to confirm the variant. Anyone who attended the marae from 11am on January 21 to 3pm on January 23 is asked to self-isolate, get tested immediately and again on day five after the exposure. Five new Northland locations of interest were announced yesterday. A full list of locations of interest is on the Ministry of Health website.
Field Days cancelled
The Northland Field Days, New Zealand's second-largest agriculture exhibition, scheduled for March 3-5, has been cancelled because of Covid-related uncertainty. "This decision was certainly not made lightly but we simply can't have exhibitors, suppliers and all the volunteers involved waiting to see what happens with Omicron," the planning committee said. It's the second year that the Field Days in Dargaville has been cancelled.
