Bay residents and visitors are being urged to mask-up and follow public health requirements over the long weekend to help slow the spread of Omicron in the community

This advice comes from the Bay of Plenty DHB in the wake of an exposure event at Polo in the Bay.

The event took place at Trustpower Baypark stadium in Mount Maunganui on Saturday, January 22 between 1pm and 6.15pm.

The event was attended by a large number of people, including cases being treated as Omicron.

The Ministry of Health advice for people who attended the event are:

• Anyone who was at the Good George Gin Caravan between 2pm and 4.30pm is a close contact and is being asked to self-isolate and get tested immediately.
• Anyone who was in the general admission area polo lounge bar between 2pm and 4pm is a close contact and is being asked to self-isolate and get tested immediately.
• Anyone who was at the stadium at this time but not at the bar is a casual contact who must self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days. If symptoms develop, get a test and stay at home until you get a negative test result.

BOP DHB's emergency operations centre incident controller Trevor Richardson says people need to behave as though they could be exposed to Omicron while out in public.

'We must all be mindful that there are almost certainly some cases of Omicron circulating in our community that have not yet been identified,” he says.

'We can expect the number of cases and contacts to grow given the highly transmissible nature of Omicron.

'Complying with public health measures will help slow the spread.”

This means wearing a mask in indoor settings with people you don't know, physical distancing, and scanning in using the Covid-19 Tracer app when you're out and about, he says.

Anyone with any cold or flu symptoms is asked to get a test and isolate at home until a negative result is returned.

The most common early symptoms of the Omicron variant are a sore or scratchy throat, and a runny nose. People with these symptoms are asked to get a test.

People can check the most recent locations of interest on the Health.govt.nz website. Testing locations can be found at Healthpoint NZ.