Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles has urged people to continue taking measures against Covid-19, warning New Zealand is now in the same boat as the rest of the world and facing more mutations of the virus.
It comes after new Omicron variant BQ1.1 was detected in New Zealand for the first time last week.
"While we don't have the traffic light system any more, we have a lot of tools at our disposal," Wiles told Breakfast this morning. "It's really not something that we should be complacent about."
Wiles explained BQ1.1 is just one of many new mutations the world is facing, saying "there are a bunch of them".
"Essentially, because there are so many infections around the world, the virus is continuing to evolve and it's picking up more and more mutations, and some of those mutations make it better able to evade our immune systems again."
Wiles said New Zealand faces a triple-threat due to less people wearing masks, people's immune response to the virus waning and "new, more immune-evasive variants".
"All these things are playing out together and they're playing out all around the world in slightly different ways, and I guess what we had before was a bit of a head start, because we got to watch what was happening in other countries.
"Now we're just bang in the middle with everybody else."
Wiles said people need to remember the virus is airborne, and take precautions with that in mind, including mask use.
"If you are infectious and don't know it, then you're breathing out less, and if you are in a room with infectious people you will be breathing in less, and so while you may still get Covid you will get a much lower dose and that will probably mean that you have a much easier time of it, so wear your masks in indoor spaces," Wiles said.
"The other thing I want to talk about are rapid antigen tests. RATS are fantastic because they are a measure of whether somebody is infectious or not...and I don't understand why we aren't using them before deciding to go out.
"The other thing is if you get Covid, you get your text at seven days saying you're free to go, we actually know that maybe about a quarter of people will still be infectious. So do a test, find out if you're still shedding the virus because if you are, if you can stay home, please stay home."
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