All of New Zealand is now at Red

All of New Zealand moved to Red at 11.59pm Sunday, 23 January, in order to slow down and manage the spread of Omicron in the community.

Red is not lockdown. At Red businesses stay open and you can do most of the things that you normally do, if you are vaccinated. There are no regional boundaries at Red, and you can shop normally as all supermarkets and retail remain open.

Omicron case update

Nine COVID-19 cases reported yesterday in the Nelson/Marlborough region have now been confirmed as the Omicron variant, and a further case from the same household was confirmed late yesterday.

These cases flew to Auckland on 13 January to attend a wedding and other events. Initial estimates suggest there were well over 100 people at these events.

This cluster has already led to an additional infection of a fully vaccinated flight attendant who picked it up on flight 5083 on January 16th from Auckland to Nelson that the family was on.

That flight attendant has worked four additional flights while infectious. These flights are:

Flight NZ 5083 from Auckland to Nelson at 5.20 pm on 16 January
Flight NZ 5080 from Nelson to Auckland at 4 pm on 19 January
Flight NZ 5077 from Auckland to Nelson at 2pm on 19 January
Flight NZ 5049 from Auckland to New Plymouth at 7.50 pm on 19 January
Flight NZ 5042 from New Plymouth to Auckland at 1.50 pm on 20 January

We don’t yet have a clear lead on the index case that links this family to the border, as we have with our other Omicron cases to date. That means Omicron is circulating in Auckland and possibly the Nelson Marlborough region if not elsewhere.

As we have seen elsewhere in the world Omicron is significantly more infectious and we will see far more cases than we have in the two years of the pandemic to date.

Boosters

The evidence from overseas is that boosters significantly reduce the likelihood of getting sick and needing to go to hospital, and also helps to reduce the transmission of the virus. Around 56% of those eligible for a booster have already had one, if you’re eligible now – go to BookMyVaccine.nz or find a walk-in vaccination clinic at https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-...

Here’s what you can do – get boosted, wear a mask in indoor settings and when out and about and reduce contact with others.

While we will now experience more cases of Covid-19 than we ever have before, most people will be able to recover at home.

Anyone with symptoms should isolate immediately and call Healthline (0800 358 5453) or your doctor to arrange a test. If you test positive, you will need to isolate for 14 days and your close contacts will need to isolate for at least 10 days.

Help and support, including financial support, will be available for people who are isolating. More information is available here: www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/

For more information and latest updates see https://covid19.govt.nz/

Be calm, be kind, get boosted.