A leading doctor says it's highly likely Covid-19 could spread through the protest at Parliament, and the conditions are ripe for other diseases to spread too.
The protest anti-vaccination mandate occupation at Parliament has entered its seventh day. Most of the days it has been there the weather has been wet.
Wellington district commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell says the camp is a toxic environment.
Police are also concerned about the obvious potential for Covid-19 to spread through the largely unvaccinated crowd.
Medical director of the College of GPs Dr Bryan Betty told Morning Report standing around in the freezing rain over the weekend is likely to take a toll.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was someone with Covid within the crowd, and that is going to spread quite rapidly when you've got 500 people gathered for a long period of time.
"So, the spread of viral illness, in particular Covid, is one concern. But the other thing that has been identified is sanitation and possible leakage of faecal material onto the ground. That really does risk the spread of something called e coli, which can lead to gastroenteritis, which is vomiting and diarrhoea. That is a real concern those sanitary conditions and what's actually going on.
"So, when you get that overburden of water, possible faecal material, then the spread of these bacteria that lead to vomiting and diarrhoea would be a real concern here, especially for the children."
Dr Betty said parents should be removing their children from the environment, especially any who would be playing on the ground.
