Kiwis take to the skies, the search for missing swimmer continues and Omicron cases drop in South Africa in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
With only two more sleeps until Christmas the number of fresh Covid-19 infections remains relatively steady, but a new case reported in the Capital yesterday has sent shock waves across the region.
On Wednesday 56 Covid-19 cases were reported in the community nationwide and six cases of Omicron were detected at the border.
The Ministry of Health confirmed the new Wellington case was in the Hutt Valley area and had an established link to the Lakes DHB area.
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry said he understood the new locations of interest would be unnerving for people, especially for those finishing their Christmas shopping.
"It's clear we have Covid in our community in Lower Hutt and that will be unsettling for a lot of people, but we are prepared for this and have worked really hard to get high vaccinations rates across the Hutt Valley.
"As a community, everyone hopes that it's not going to spread, but the reality of it is it was going to come to communities around the country."
Guppy said his council's controversial decision to not require vaccine passes for entry to its facilities would be reviewed in light of the location of interest in Upper Hutt.
Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Pūnaha Matatini modeller Dion O'Neale said Omicron could spread quite quickly if it got into the community and New Zealand could expect too see some really quick growth.
The lower community case numbers of Delta over the past few weeks had been really heartening and he put this down to vaccinations having an effect and other good practices such as mask wearing, social distancing, and good ventilation paired with the current Covid protection framework settings.
The growth rate was "pretty steady" at the moment and keeping case numbers around the high double digit figures was a good and hopefully realistic scenario.
Whether case numbers rose depended on where they were spreading such as whether it was a highly vaccinated area and what other precautions they were taking, including masks and social distancing, he told RNZ.
New Zealand was "potentially already seeing a little bit of a signal of the border reopening" with new cases and waste water detections popping up in new areas such as Whitianga and Napier.
He said they would not necessarily expect to see a huge increase in numbers, but a greater spread of cases around the country.
The outcome of those cases would be depend on the communities they were in and people's behaviour there.
Meanwhile, the recent New Zealand returnee who self-discharged from Middlemore Hospital on Monday along with their child has voluntarily returned to an MIQ facility.
"The child, who had been taken to Middlemore with their parent as they were too young to be left unattended in managed isolation, has also returned."
The pair returned to the MIQ facility on Tuesday night and yesterday had seven days of their isolation still to complete.
The six new cases of Omicron detected in recent returnees in MIQ has taken the total number of international arrivals to New Zealand with the Omicron variant to 28.
"Health and MIQ teams have been carefully planning for Omicron cases at the border and will continue to manage all arrivals cautiously," the Ministry of Health said.
"This includes isolation and testing requirements for all new arrivals, robust infection and prevention control and PPE measures at airports and MIQ facilities, and frequent surveillance testing of staff who have any contact with recent international returnees."
Covid-19 was detected in wastewater samples on December 20 from Hutt Valley, Napier, Whitianga, Dargaville and Gisborne.
The ministry also clarified that people could get the new shortened four-month booster vaccine shot at walk-in vaccination centres from January 5 and bookings could be made on BookMyVaccine from January 17.
"Anyone who is more than six months post their second vaccination is advised to get their booster shot now."
Parents and caregivers will be able to book vaccinations for 5 to 11-year-olds from January 17.
