How Omicron could stamp out Delta, music industry sings out for support and inflation still on the rise in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A flight from Auckland to Nelson is among several new Omicron close contact exposure sites announced by the Ministry of Health this evening.
Anyone on flight NZ5077 from Auckland to Nelson on January 16 is now a close contact of an Omicron case and is advised to get a test immediately and self-isolate. The flight lasted from 2.05pm to 3.35pm that day.
The Polo in the Bay Mount Maunganui event on Saturday 22 is now also a close contact exposure site for patrons who entered the general admission area and the polo lounge bar between 2pm and 4pm.
The polo event has not yet been determined as an Omicron exposure, but hundreds attended.
Another private event at Mahatma Gandhi Centre Eden Terrace was also added as an Omicron close-contact exposure on Saturday January 22 from 4pm to 11pm.
Flight NZ5771 from Napier to Christchurch on January 24 from 6.25am to 8am is also now a Covid close contact exposure site - but has not yet been determined as Omicron.
Private Event at Hamilton Gardens Pavilion on January 23 between 7pm and 11pm is also an Omicron close contact exposure site.
Anyone who was at the above sites should get a test immediately and self-isolate.
Queenstown Airport has also been identified as an Omicron exposure site - but not yet a close contact. Anyone there on Saturday January 22 between 2.15pm and 3pm should self monitor for symptoms.
4pm update
A raft of new Omicron locations of interest across Auckland and Tauranga have been announced by the Ministry of Health this afternoon, including several gyms and a shopping mall.
An Omicron close contact exposure site has also been identified at a private event at the Manukau Indian Association Diversity Centre in Papatoetoe on Friday January 21 between 7pm and 10pm.
CityFitness Fraser Cove in Tauranga is also an Omicron close contact exposure site on Monday January 24 between 10am and 12pm, and, Tuesday January 25 between 10am and 12pm and.
Flights NZ5084 from Nelson to Auckland on January 18, and Auckland to Nelson flight NZ8087 on January 23 and have also been identified as close contact exposure sites - but not connected to an Omicron case.
A close contact exposure site at the foodcourt at Auckland Airport Domestic Terminal has also been identified on Monday January 24 between 2.40pm and 3pm.
Everyone exposed to the above locations is advised to get a test immediately and self-isolate.
Non-close contact Omicron locations of interest
All the below new Omicron sites are not close contacts and the MOH advises to monitor for symptoms 10 days after any exposure and get a test if you detect them.
The Westfield Albany foodcourt is an exposure site linked to an Omicron case there on Wednesday January 19 between 11am and 6pm and Thursday January 20 between 11am and 8pm.
The Mitre 10 Mega in Mt Wellington is also an Omicron exposure site on January 15 between 10am and 6pm, January 17 between 10am and 6pm, January 18 between 8.20am and 7pm, and January 19 between 7.30am and 12.30pm.
The Fresho Mount Roskill is an Omicron exposure site on January 21 between 12pm and 6pm, and January 22 between 8am and 12pm.
True Woman's Fitness & Wellbeing Papatoetoe is an Omicron exposure site on January 23 between 12.30pm and 1.45pm, and January 24 between 6.15am and 7.15am.
Satya Chai Lounge Sandringham is an Omicron exposure site on Sunday January 23 between 2.30pm and 4pm.
Auckland Airport
Auckland Airport's regional and domestic terminals have also been listed as non-close contact and non-Omicron locations of interest this afternoon
If you were at the Auckland Airport Regional Arrivals Terminal on Tuesday January 18 between 7.30pm and 7.45pm you should self monitor for symptoms.
If you were at the AirGo Convenience at Auckland Domestic Airport on Saturday January 22 between 5pm and 5.30pm you should also self monitor for symptoms.
This morning's new Omicron locations of interest
The Krispy Kreme on Ronwood Ave in Manukau, South Auckland, was visited by a person with Covid on Sunday afternoon.
The suspected Omicron case went through the drive-thru.
Another private event has also been identified: the Mahatma Gandhi Centre on New North Rd in Eden Terrace.
The event was held on Saturday, January 22, between 4pm and 11pm.
The private event has been identified as "high risk". Those who attended are being urged to self isolate immediately and get tested for Covid-19.
People there will also have to get tested again on day five after being exposed.
"Further isolation and testing requirements will be provided by Public Health," the Ministry of Health said.
The third location is a top designer retail store: Gucci Auckland in Queen St.
The infected person was there on Sunday, January 23, for about 15 minutes. The affected time was between 1.44pm and 2pm.
People who went through the Krispy Kreme drive-thru or were at the Gucci store are not being advised to self isolate immediately - but to monitor their health for 10 days after being exposed.
If symptoms start to develop, get tested and stay home until a negative result comes back.
• Krispy Kreme Manukau (drive-through): Sunday January 23, 2.30pm-2.45pm. • Private event at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre, Eden Terrace: Saturday January 22, 4pm-11pm. • Gucci Auckland: Sunday January 23, 1.44pm-2pm.
• Sunglasses Style Auckland Central: Queen St: Sunday January 23, 1.30pm-1.40pm. • Auckland Airport domestic terminal: Monday January 24, 3pm-4pm. • Unichem Bairds Pharmacy, Otara: Monday January 24, 9.45pm-11pm. • ProHealth Pharmacy, Papatoetoe: Monday January 24, 11.29am-11.53am.
Meanwhile, a dozen concertgoers who attended the Soundsplash music festival in Waikato last weekend have now tested positive for Covid, an infected teenager claims.
Experts now fear the popular music festival which saw 8506 people gather on the outskirts of Hamilton from Friday to Sunday has the makings of a super-spreader event and even accelerated the spread of Omicron across New Zealand.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health confirmed one of five infected Aucklanders who attended the festival had tested positive for the highly contagious Omicron variant, and the three-day event at Mystery Creek was now an exposure site.
So far 68 people have been identified as close contacts, but that number is expected to increase.
This morning a teenager named Emma said out of 30 in her group of friends who attended, 12 have tested positive for Covid.
"I got tested just as like a precaution and then when mine came back positive, I told everyone to get tested," she told RNZ.
"Then everyone got tested and slowly the results have been coming back and it's been one out of every three has been positive."
Emma said some of her friends who tested positive will be going to have a second test.
It is not yet known what variant she and the remaining people who have tested positive have got.
Emma acknowledged that strict safety Covid measures were followed at the festival.
However, she said members of the public did not appear to "bother" scanning the Covid Tracer app codes located around the site.
"It was pretty strict. My vaccine passes were scanned, we had to be fully vaccinated. All the staff were wearing masks."
Festival organiser Brian Ruawai said those behind Soundsplash were mindful of all attendees now facing the developing health crisis.
"Obviously we are concerned for the well-being of everyone," Ruawai said.
"We have spoken to health officials. This is a public health matter and we encourage all festival attendees, staff, suppliers and artists to follow the official advice."
Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O'Connor said the school year had been back for just three days when he made the decision for 120 students who attended the Soundsplash festival to leave class and get a test as a safeguard.
He told Newstalk ZB's Tim Dower those who had been at the festival were asked to leave the central Auckland campus, get tested and produce a negative result before coming back to class.
"It was pretty likely that it was going to become a location of interest but we couldn't afford to wait until 10.30am when it was announced by the ministry on their website," said O'Connor.
He said they couldn't afford to have 120 boys in class across the school and risk just one being positive and potentially forcing the campus to close just as it had started term one.
Even though the ministry said they should self-monitor for the next 10 days, as a precautionary measure the school asked for pupils to return to class after a negative result, he said.
It was important for schools to act swiftly and be conservative in their approach regarding Covid, O'Connor said. And it was far more preferable for students to be absent for two days awaiting test results rather than losing large groups of students off school for weeks.
Festivalgoers at the Mystery Creek event which experts fear may turn into an Omicron super-spreader. Photo / Supplied
O'Connor said he was not advised by the Ministry of Health over the situation which affected so many students at his school.
University of Canterbury Associate Professor Arindam Basu said people gathered at the festival would have been yelling and vocalising - activities that would release a lot of virus into the environment.
"Festivals, particularly music festivals and others, are places where we kind of term them as super-spreading or hyper-spreading events," Basu told Newstalk ZB.
"This, in all likelihood, is one such thing."
University of Otago Professor Michael Baker said there was potential for the Waikato music festival to be a "super-spreader" event but it came down to how many infected people attended the festival and how many other people they infected.
"Omicron, given that it is very infectious, it might be you only need one infectious person there who can infect scores of other people, depending on what they were doing.
"This event may have greatly accelerated the take-off of Omicron in New Zealand if those people went off around the country."
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has projected an Omicron outbreak in New Zealand could last about three months and peak at 80,000 daily infections.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Andrew Little said he was confident the health system could cope, despite predictions daily cases could reach 5000 to 50,000.
