Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Caution over Anzac Day services and parades

Many thousands turned out for the Anzac Day dawn service at the cenotaph in Dunedin in 2018. Photo / Gerard O'Brien, File

Relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions means Anzac Day parades can be held around the southern region this year, but many organisers are asking themselves: "Will anyone come?"

Dawn services are scheduled in Dunedin and Queenstown, but Invercargill is still to make a decision.

Dunedin Returned and Services' Association Anzac Day co-ordinator Lieutenant-commander Rob Tomlinson said the Government's decision to allow unlimited numbers of people to gather at outdoor events meant the Dunedin dawn service in Queen's Gardens could go ahead.

However, he believed attendance numbers would be significantly affected by people's hesitancy to go to large gatherings while Omicron infection levels were still so high in the city.

"It's something we're wary of. We're not sure how many will turn up.

"On good times we have been able to get between 5000 and 7000 people to the service, but we may be lucky to get 2000 to 3000 people this year."

This year's guest speaker would be recently retired Royal New Zealand Navy captain Shaun Fogarty, who last month was serving as defence adviser for Australia and India.

It was not known if New Zealand Defence Force personnel would be participating in Anzac Day services yet, so Fogarty's speech would be pre-recorded and played on a large screen at the cenotaph, in case he could not attend in person.

Awarua RSA president Ian Beker said a meeting was to be held tonight to decide whether a dawn service would be held in Invercargill.

"My personal belief is that [allowing unlimited numbers of people to gather outdoors] is just a wee bit premature.

"We need to wait until we've actually gone over the hump, and we're not there yet, especially in the South.

"Our people are over 70, so we're in a very vulnerable group and I don't want to be responsible for bringing together a group of vulnerable people and then having a super-spreader event on our hands."

Queenstown RSA president Phil Wiel said organisers of Queenstown's Anzac services had similar concerns, so they had scaled the event back.

There would be a shortened outdoor dawn service, but the annual indoor civil service had been cancelled.

"Covid's a bit of an unknown really. That's why we've cut back to just running a dawn service.

"There are a few changes with restrictions."