{"id":462989,"date":"2022-01-09T21:31:10","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T21:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=68490"},"modified":"2022-01-09T21:31:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T21:31:10","slug":"covid-19-experts-fear-omicron-may-soon-be-in-nz-community-as-border-cases-jump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/01\/09\/covid-19-experts-fear-omicron-may-soon-be-in-nz-community-as-border-cases-jump\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 experts fear omicron may soon be in NZ community as border cases jump"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Jean Bell<\/a>, RNZ News<\/a> journalist<\/em><\/p>\n New Zealand covid-19 experts are nervously observing an ever-increasing number of cases at the border, as the threat of an omicron outbreak looms.<\/p>\n The highly transmissible variant has rapidly spread around the globe and New Zealand has dodged a community outbreak so far.<\/p>\n But with the escalating number of overseas returnees testing positive, there are fears a new wave of the virus could be out in the community within weeks.<\/p>\n Epidemiologist and University of Otago professor Michael Baker called the variant a “huge threat” and said it was not a matter of if there was an outbreak, but when.<\/p>\n Professor Baker was concerned there may have been undetected transmission of the virus — whether that was the delta or omicron variant — during the Christmas and New Year period.<\/p>\n “It will take a while for people to people to develop symptoms if they were exposed. Everyone should be aware of getting any cold or flu symptoms, which is unusual for this time of year.”<\/p>\n\n