A health expert says there are a couple things working in our favour now Omicron is in the community

Two cases have been identified - UK DJ Dimension, who left self isolation while awaiting a test result - and an Air New Zealand crew member who's been in the community.

Canterbury University Epidemiologist Associate Professor Arindam Basu the spread should be slower than we've seen elsewhere.

He says modelling and identifying who's infected with Omicron will be different because of our superior vaccination status compared to other countries.