Police gear up to tow cars outside parliament, conversion therapy bill passed and further developments in Russia in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
Rapid antigen tests will start to be used more widely as the country's traditional Covid-19 testing capabilities are already buckling under the growing demand.
The second stage of New Zealand's plan to tackle Omicron came into force this morning, resulting in reduced isolation times and allowing critical workers identified as close contacts to go to work providing they return a negative RAT.
Long queues are building at testing stations around Auckland and Hamilton this morning with the Balmoral, New Lynn, Northcote, Manukau, Founders Theatre and Greenwood St testing stations among the sites all experiencing huge demand. Cars are backed up around surrounding streets as they wait to be tested.
As people in Auckland and Waikato faced waits of up to three hours for tests yesterday, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins this morning urged those who were just "a little bit worried" not to get tested.
Instead the testing stations should be left for those people who had symptoms or had been identified as close contacts, he told TVNZ.
"If you have a positive test and you're actually reasonably well with only mild symptoms please don't go to hospital."
Asked whether the long waits for tests could deter people from getting tested, Hipkins told AM that the hope was the RATs would start to be more widely used once more came into the country.
Yesterday there were 744 new cases of Covid-19 in the community and 40 people in hospital. The majority of the cases were in Auckland.
New locations of interest have emerged this morning including a Brazilian BBQ restaurant and a separate bar in Queenstown, an East Auckland netball court and a South Auckland church.
Staff working at Fogo Brazilian BBQ in Queenstown on February 8, 9 and 10 and patrons who were on the second floor at Kingpin Queenstown on February 9 between 1pm and 7pm are considered close contacts and must isolate and get tested immediately.
Anyone who was at the Howick Pakuranga Netball Centre Pakuranga on February 13 between 10.55am and 1.30pm or the Good News Family Church Manurewa on February 6 between 12.40pm and 2.14pm must also isolate and get tested immediately.
As of Monday night 6922 businesses had self-registered as critical services and indicated that 390,000 workers (or 50 per business) may need to use the close contact exemption scheme.
But Hipkins told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that many businesses had already indicated that the self-isolation exemption scheme would be used as a last resort.
"I think small businesses if they've got one person in their team who is a close contact and potentially might have Covid-19 I think they're well aware that one of the biggest risks for them would be having that person come into the workplace and potentially infecting other people in the workplace and they'd lose more of their team," Hipkins said.
"For them the consequences of having a Covid-positive person in their workplace would be very high."
A long queue at the Northcote Covid testing station in College Rd this morning. Photo / Michael Craig
Speaking to TVNZ, Hipkins said the main message for New Zealanders was that we are now in a different phase of our Covid response - it is about recognising that there will be cases in the community and we have to manage that as best we can. It was no longer about elimination.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners is also backing a change of mindset in how the country deals with Covid-19 going forward saying instead of fighting Covid, people need to learn to live with it.
In time, New Zealand would handle Covid-19 outbreaks in the same way it did the flu, the college's medical director, Dr Bryan Betty said.
The focus now needed to be on other health issues and illnesses waiting in the wings such as influenza which had the potential to be worse than previous years due to people having less exposure to it during lockdown.
These vaccinations were also important and the college was concerned about a drop in childhood immunisations which could see the re-emergence of whooping cough and potentially measles.
"Let's keep calm, keep healthy and more importantly, get vaccinated and boosted. In the end we will get there and back to our 'new normal'."
