Covid-19

Pressure mounts to cancel Pasifika Festival

Pressure is mounting for the Government to cancel Pasifika Festival and other large events this weekend, even as health experts urge against rash reactions, Marc Daalder reports

Simon Bridges has joined the chorus of voices raising doubts about the Government's decision to let large-scale events go ahead this weekend.

"As the US and many other nations cancel public events, we need to revisit this and be reassured by our Government about the reasons for continuing with them here. Slowing the spread of the virus must be prioritised," the Leader of the Opposition wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

Events cancelled elsewhere

Dozens of events overseas have been postponed or cancelled, including the remainder of the National Basketball Association season. In Italy, all public gatherings, including church services, have been banned. St. Patrick's Day parades around the world, including in Dublin, Boston and Chicago, have been postponed.

The Coachella music festival in southern California has been postponed until October. South by Southwest, a week-long media, film, music and tech festival held annually in Austin, Texas, has also been cancelled.

Meanwhile, events in New Zealand - which, with only five cases and no new cases for five days, appears to have dodged the Covid-19 bullet so far - are still slated to go ahead. In Auckland alone, the Blues will play the Lions at Eden Park, the annual Kumeu Agricultural and Pastoral Show will take place and thousands will attend sold-out performances of the Book of Mormon.

Pasifika festival a focus of concern

Then there's the Pasifika Festival, which has received significant attention in recent days due in part to fears visitors could unknowingly carry Covid-19 back to the Pacific Islands. The first case of the disease in the Pacific Islands was reported in French Polynesia on Thursday.

Leisa Siteine, the event production manager at Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development, told Newsroom they had been advised not to cancel Pasifika.

"At this stage, the advice from the Ministry of Health is not to alter or cancel events. We are continuing to monitor the latest updates and advice from the Ministry and other relevant agencies. We are also in contact with the Prime Minister’s Office and if circumstances change, we will act in accordance with the best advice available at the time," she said.

Siteine also told Newsroom the festival will be taking special precautions. "We are encouraging event participants, staff and anyone attending the festival to follow the Ministry of Health’s hygiene guidelines. We will have additional hygiene stations in place at the festival which have been provided by St John, as well as signage reminding festival-goers of good hygiene practices."

"We’re also urging anyone who feels unwell not to attend the Pasifika Festival, and call Healthline. To ensure the health and safety of our staff and volunteers they have been briefed on good hygiene practice as per the Ministry of Health’s guidelines."

Expert says no need to cancel events yet

Dr Siouxsie Wiles, an expert in infectious diseases and an associate professor at the University of Auckland, told Newsroom there didn't yet appear to be a need to cancel public events. "At the moment, we don't have any confirmed community transmission, so it should be absolutely fine," she said.

That said, there's no way to be completely sure the festival will result in no transmission. "The question is whether we have some and we don't know about it yet," Wiles said.

"We've got to be really careful that we don't act too soon, so that we actually massively disrupt people when we don't need to, versus acting too late, when it becomes difficult to really control anything. We're in a really uncertain stage where we don't know - we're definitely not too late - but we might be too early, in which case we would be doing things that were unnecessary."

"I'm glad I don't have to make that decision," she said.

Covid-19 is transmitted like the flu. The Ministry of Health recommends that all New Zealanders wash their hands frequently and refrain from touching their face in order to protect themselves and others. Call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 if you have any symptoms and have been to any countries or territories of concern or have been in close contact with someone confirmed with Covid-19.