Electronic music artist DJ Dimension has become very well known in New Zealand for all the wrong reasons. He is a British DJ who triggered the country’s first Omicron scare after testing positive for COVID and violating quarantine rules.
DJ Dimension – real name Robert Etheridge – arrived in NZ from the UK and completed seven days in a managed quarantine facility and three days in self isolation. During the time in the quarantine facility, he returned three negative COVID tests.
The British DJ, who boasts over 80,000 followers on Instagram, was meant to wait for results from his fourth test – which was conducted on day nine of self isolation – before he could enter the community. However, Etheridge reportedly left his residence before receiving the result, and mingled in the community, visiting a nightclub and bar, restaurants and a jewellers.
His COVID test came back positive for Omicron, the country’s first known community case. Etheridge’s neglect of the rules has outraged many people across the country. However, the DJ has said that he didn’t realise he was breaking the rules, and is “devastated”.
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“I’m devastated to share that after 10 days of isolation, I tested positive for Omicron whilst in New Zealand,” he wrote on Instagram on December 29th, 2021.
“After completing my 10-day isolation and of the understanding that I had completed my quarantine, I entered the community. To my shock and enormous concern, I unexpectedly received a positive test on day twelve, two days after my isolation period had ended,” he added.
In the caption, Etheridge added that he “felt the need to remove” a post of him at a beach after leaving self isolation because of the “hate and abuse” he received online.
As soon as the positive result was received, Etheridge was reportedly transferred Auckland MIQ facility that same day.
The Ministry of Health in New Zealand has said that they won’t be prosecuting Etheridge over his isolation breaches, as reported by The Guardian.
“The Ministry of Health does not plan to refer this case to the police at this stage,” they said in a statement, adding that it “needs to balance the deterrence effect from any potential prosecution with enabling an environment that does not discourage future cases from assisting with the public health response to Covid-19”.
Since the news of Etheridge’s positive result, The Ministry of Health in New Zealand has been working to test all close contacts, so far none of them have tested positive.
New Zealand currently has very few cases of COVID. As of yesterday, the figure was sitting at 27 new community cases and 24 border cases.
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