January 24, 2022
All of Aotearoa moves to Red
Tēnā anō koutou katoa.
Nine COVID-19 cases reported on Saturday in Motueka have now been confirmed as the Omicron variant. These cases are a single family who flew to Tāmaki Makaurau on 13 January to attend a wedding and other events on the weekend of January 15 to 16. Initial estimates suggest over 100 people were at these events. This cluster has already led to one additional infection of a fully vaccinated Air New Zealand flight attendant who picked it up on flight NZ5083 from Tāmaki Makaurau to Nelson that the family was also on. That flight attendant has worked four additional flights while infectious – these flight details can be found on our locations of interest webpage.
Importantly, we don’t yet have a clear lead on the index case that links this family to the border. That means Omicron is now circulating in Tāmaki Makaurau and possibly the Nelson Marlborough region if not elsewhere. On that basis, Cabinet has decided to move the whole of Aotearoa to Red at 11.59pm, Sunday 23 January. Given the transmissibility of the Omicron variant, Red settings have been adjusted to help slow the spread of the virus and protect people. I’ve included further kōrero on those settings and what they mean for you and your whānau below.
Our current strategy is to minimise the spread of the virus through vaccination and public health measures such as mask wearing and restrictions on gatherings while keeping the pressure off our health system, to protect those most at risk of getting sick. Given the low number of Delta cases, there is significant capacity in the system to attempt to stamp out outbreaks and our teams are already hard at work to contain this one.
As we’ve seen elsewhere in the world, Omicron is significantly more infectious and, in due course, we know we’ll see far more cases than we have in the two years of the pandemic to date. The difference to previous outbreaks, however, is that we are vaccinated and are even better prepared.
The best thing that people can do to be prepared is to get a booster. People who have had a booster are much less likely to require hospital care if they catch COVID-19. Around 56 per cent of those eligible for a booster already have one but we need to get that number higher. If it has been four months since your second shot, please go to BookMyVaccine to make a booking or walk-in to a vaccination centre.
Additionally, for those of you with tamariki, all children aged five to 11 can now be vaccinated and parents and caregivers should seek out information to help them make that decision. Already around 20 per cent of children aged five to 11 have been vaccinated or are booked to do so.
Finally, whānau need to make sure they are prepared for a period of isolation at home in the event they catch COVID-19 or they are a close contact. Picking up some key supplies now and making sure you have a buddy who can deliver anything else you need while you’re isolating is a good idea. Information on how to make a plan for if you or a member of your household catches COVID-19 is available on the Unite Against COVID-19 website.
Moving to Red and what that means for you and your whānau
- Whānau should stay calm and go about life as normally as possible. For vaccinated people, life at Red means doing most of what you would normally do while following familiar tikanga hauora like wearing a face covering and keeping physical distance from others.
- At Red, people now must wear a mask at food and drink business, close-proximity businesses, and events and gatherings, except when eating and drinking. People are encouraged to wear a mask whenever they leave the house and keep physical distance between themselves and people outside of their household wherever they can.
- Hospitality businesses can open but are capped at 100 people indoors and customers must be seated and separated.
- Events and gatherings for vaccinated people are reduced to 100. If people at an event are not vaccinated, that reduces further to 25.
- In retail and public places like libraries and museums there will be limits on those in a space based on the ability to maintain physical distancing.
- Businesses and workplaces remain open but where a workplace deems it appropriate, they may choose to have employees work from home.
- As always, anyone with symptoms should isolate immediately and call Healthline (0800 358 5453) or your doctor. 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 you while you are isolating.
- You can read more about life at Red online.
General update – 24 new cases, 8 people in hospital and 84% Māori fully vaccinated
- There is a total of 24 new community cases to report in Aotearoa today. Of these, two are in Te Tai Tokerau, 16 are in Tāmaki Makaurau, one is in Waikato, and five are in Lakes.
- This brings the total number of cases associated with this outbreak to 11,490.
- For the Māori vaccination rollout, 89 per cent of our whānau have had one dose of the vaccine, and 84 per cent have had their second.
- Ka mutu, there are currently eight people in hospital with COVID-19. None of these people are in ICU or HDU.
Locations of interest and testing
- Initial locations of interest have been identified across Auckland and the Nelson Tasman region and these will be published on the Ministry’s website as they are confirmed. We are encouraging everyone in these regions to check the locations of interest and follow the public health advice.
- If you are māuiui, stay home and get a test – at the moment, that is the same PCR test with a nasopharyngeal swab that we have used successfully over the last two years.
- If you are required to isolate, you will receive advice and – if needed – support to do so; at this stage you will need to isolate for 14 days if you are a case, and 10 days if you are a close contact.
- All testing locations nationwide are available at Healthpoint.
- We expect there will be high demand, and it’s important that those who need to be tested are the ones who we test first.
- Anyone with symptoms, anyone who has been to a location of interest at the times notified, should isolate immediately and get tested promptly.
Two new cases in Te Tai Tokerau
- There have been two new cases in the Kaitaia area. Both are household members of an existing case.
- Two cases were also reported last night and will be added to the case numbers tomorrow. This included one linked case in Whangārei who is a close contact of a case and was already in isolation.
- The other case was in the Kaitaia area and investigations are continuing to establish a link to previous cases. Whole genome sequencing is underway for this case.
Tāmaki Makaurau kaimahi associated with the Nelson family has tested positive
- An Auckland aged residential care worker associated with the family from Nelson, has tested positive for COVID-19. The worker is fully vaccinated and Whole Genome Sequencing is being carried out; however, we are treating this as a contact of a known Omicron case.
- The rest home is now closed to visitors and testing is being carried out on residents and staff.
- Anyone who has visited the rest home since Friday 21 January and has symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to isolate and get a test as soon as possible.
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Please remind your friends and whānau to get information on COVID-19 and the vaccine from our trusted sources – the Ministry of Health website, Unite Against COVID channels, Karawhiua channels, and Te Puni Kōkiri ‘COVID-19 Information for Māori’ portal.
For guidance on protecting yourself and your whānau from COVID-19 misinformation and scams, please visit the Unite Against COVID website.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact myself or my team at Māorihealth@health.govt.nz
Mā te Atua tātou e manaaki i roto i ngā āhuatanga o te wā,
Nāhaku me aku mihi aroha.