More revellers on alert for symptoms

More New Year’s party-goers are being told to watch out for Covid-19 symptoms as calls from Australia to push booster doses intensify.

Yesterday 35 new community cases were reported yesterday and 24 cases at the border.

Of the new community cases, 18 were in Auckland, 13 in Bay of Plenty, three in the Lakes district and one in Waikato.

New Zealand had 37 people with Covid-19 in hospital yesterday, three of them in intensive care or high dependency units.

A second central Auckland New Year’s Eve party has been named as a location of interest after at least one Covid case there.

People at the Britomart Block Party, between 11.15pm and 2.30am on New Year’s Day, are required to get a test and monitor symptoms for 10 days. If any develop, stay home until a test is negative.

The party ran across three clubs — AV Club, Saturdays and Side Door — as well as a “massive street party” on Galway St.

Earlier, revellers at Ponsonby nightclub Longroom after 10pm on New Year’s Eve were told to selfisolate for 10 days and get tested because of a Covid case there.

Meanwhile, University of Melbourne epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely has warned New Zealand it should learn from its Australian cousins as Omicron cases spike in New South Wales.

He said there was an “appalling” shortage of rapid antigen tests in Australia. “So flipping this to lessons for New Zealand: Get heaps of rapid antigen tests in before you get Omicron and change your surveillance systems, or at least have them ready to go to pivot to being less reliant on PCR when the numbers of Omicron go up.

“And follow some of the UK examples of getting some free rapid antigen tests out towards citizens, who have got some ready for when Omicron arrives.”

He said New Zealand could try to keep the borders “really strong” to keep Omicron out but “the chances of pulling that off are remote”. “The second option is . . . to embrace Omicron.”

Blakely said Omicron was “way less severe”.