The Ministry of Health has confirmed there is a second Omicron case who has been in the community - an Air New Zealand crew member who worked on a flight between Auckland and Sydney.

In today's statement, where it was revealed there were 60 new community cases in New Zealand, the Ministry said the second Omicron case who had been in the community flew in on Christmas Eve and were tested for Covid-19 in routine surveillance testing on 27 December.

"Whole genome sequencing has confirmed the Omicron variant and has also confirmed the case is linked to three other Omicron cases on the same flight.

They have been transferred to a MIQ facility.

"The case is fully vaccinated. Eight close contacts have been identified, seven of whom have returned negative test results. At this stage, there are no known locations of interest."

Last night, UK DJ Robert Etheridge, or DJ Dimension, in a social media post owned up to being New Zealand's first community Omicron case.

Scheduled to perform at the Rhythm and Alps festival in Wanaka, Etheridge ended a 10-day period of isolation without receiving his final Covid-19 test result.

He visited several locations of interest, including Waiheke Island, as well as a nightclub and restaurant in Auckland.

Speaking to media this morning, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the development had not changed plans for Auckland and all other red regions, except Northland, to move to the orange setting at 11.59pm tonight.

- more to come

Republished by Arrangement