Category Archives: New Zealand

Covid live news: France suspends unvaccinated health workers; Israel boosters ‘curb serious illness’

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Thousands of unvaccinated French health workers suspended without pay; Israel experts say data suggests boosters stem rise in serious cases

Thousands of health workers in France who did not get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of a deadline this week have been suspended without pay, the health minister has said.

“Some 3,000 suspensions were notified yesterday to employees at health centres and clinics who have not yet been vaccinated,” Olivier Veran told RTL radio. “Several dozens” had turned in their resignations rather than take vaccines, he added.

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‘They couldn’t come into our internal waters’: Ardern responds to Aukus submarine deal – video

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New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says her country was ‘not approached’ to be part of a new security pact between Australia, the UK and US. ‘Nor would I expect us to be,’ she adds. ‘The anchor of this arrangement are nuclear-powered submarines and it will be very clear to all New Zealanders and to Australia why New Zealand would not wish to be a part of that project.' Since the mid-1980s, New Zealand has had a strict policy keeping its territorial sea, land and airspace as nuclear-free zones 

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New Zealand Māori party launches petition to change country’s name to Aotearoa

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Party wants all original te reo Māori place names to be officially restored across the country in the next five years

The Māori party has launched a petition to change New Zealand’s official name to Aotearoa, the te reo Māori, indigenous language name for the country.

“It’s well past time that Te Reo Māori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country,” Te Pāti Māori leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said in a statement launching the petition. “We are a Polynesian country – we are Aotearoa.”

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Give Lorde a break. Non-Māori must speak Māori for it to survive | Morgan Godfery

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If we must wait for the perfect circumstances to speak or sing te reo, we may as well sign the language’s death certificate

My sisters and I are the first generation in almost 50 generations of our family who didn’t grow up speaking te reo Māori as a first language. At first, that fact seems startling – a dramatic rupture from our past and the language that gives form to it. We are only three generations removed from ancestors who were Māori-speaking monoglots, ordering their lives and their world in a language almost foreign to their 21st-century descendants.

But this break between the language our ancestors spoke and the language we speak – English – is the typical Māori experience: only one in five Māori can hold a conversation in their ancestral language, and in the past three national surveys this number has fallen. That makes us anglophones a firm majority in our Indigenous populace.

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We don’t live in isolation. Our ancestors’ trauma can affect our health generations later | Himali McInnes

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Our wellbeing is inextricably linked to our childhoods, which in turn is influenced by the lives of our parents and grandparents

If there is one patient who has opened my eyes to my own cognitive bias and who has helped me to recognise the profound effect of the past on a person’s health, it is my patient Arama*.

“Hey, what’s up, doc?” says Arama as he walks into my consulting room one day. He’s weaving a little, his breath reeks of alcohol, his speech is slurred. He wants to get some antibiotics for a chesty cough that he’s had for a week.

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Victoria to receive ‘surge’ of Pfizer, Moderna vaccine doses as 392 cases recorded – as it happened

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Man in his 20s dies in NSW as state records 1,262 new cases; ACT records 15 new Covid cases. This blog is now closed

That’s where I will leave you for today. Here’s a wrap of what we learned:

NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has taken to twitter to slam the Berejiklian government for calling an end to the 11am daily press conferences.

“When I feel like I need to be accountable.”

❌ That’s not good enough.

Government accountability isn’t optional.

Reinstate the daily press conferences and bring back the parliament now.#nswpol #auspol

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Against all odds: how New Zealand is bending the Delta curve

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The country’s goal of eliminating Covid transmission looks within reach – but health experts’ optimism is cautious

Less than a month ago, New Zealanders disappeared into their homes, retracting from the public domain like spilled water into a dry sponge. The motorways and city streets stood mostly empty, shops closed, schools and playgrounds were deserted. A single case of the highly contagious Delta variant had been detected and the government called a snap level-4 lockdown, introducing some of the strictest restrictions in the world.

It was a new threat for a country whose Covid-zero pandemic response had been ranked one of the best globally. New Zealand had never faced a Delta outbreak before, and no one knew if its past strategies would prove up to the task.

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NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern struggles with tough question during Covid press conference – video

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At Thursday's daily Covid-19 briefing, the typically unflappable prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, could barely contain her expression when asked to respond to an allegation that a visitor and a patient had sex in a shared room at Auckland hospital. The allegation comes as the Auckland District Health Board faces criticism for allowing hundreds of visitors a day into hospitals, despite the strict lockdown measures in place to help the country stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

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New Zealand Covid update: Ardern secures 250,000 Pfizer doses from Spain as 13 new cases recorded

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New Delta cases below 21 for sixth consecutive day, as Jacinda Ardern announces vaccine purchase from Spain

Daily cases in New Zealand’s coronavirus outbreak have continued to fall, with just 13 new infections recorded on Thursday, the sixth day in a row that numbers have been below 21. The downward trend is an encouraging sign the tough lockdown measures are working and that the country is making progress towards stamping out the virus.

It came as the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced the government had secured another 250,000 Pfizer vaccines from Spain to enable the vaccine rollout to continue at pace.

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New Zealand must foster belonging for all refugees in wake of terror attack | Jay Marlowe and Bernard Sama

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A sense of belonging is crucial to stop refugees becoming isolated, yet our policies define them as the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’

The New Lynn mall terror attack in west Auckland on Friday last week that left five people in hospital and the perpetrator shot dead underscores how isolation and a lack of belonging can create fertile ground for extremist ideas to take root.

As the public conversation moves from descriptions of the event to suggestions of what comes next, we also need to consider why he became so isolated. While the details of this individual continue to be released, the larger context about how people seek asylum, and how they are treated, warrant consideration.

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New Zealand to rethink plan to reopen borders amid Delta outbreak

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Despite a fifth day of falling cases, planned reopening early next year will be changed to grade countries by vaccination and case numbers

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New Zealand’s plans to reopen its borders to the world early next year will have to undergo a complete reworking, the government has warned, as the country races to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

The nation recorded 15 new cases of coronavirus in the community on Wednesday, bringing the total number in the outbreak to 855.

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I assessed the Auckland terrorist – our approach has to change | Dr Clarke Jones

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Police surveillance and monitoring are key tools for community safety but do not result in rehabilitation. In fact, they could encourage offending

On 3 September, seven innocent people were stabbed at a suburban Auckland supermarket. The perpetrator, Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen, was shot and killed by police.

In the aftermath of this heartbreaking event, we ask whether it could have been avoided. For those of us who had been trying to support Samsudeen in his transition out of New Zealand’s correctional system, this event raises several important questions.

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It is time for New Zealand to end gay conversion practices | Shaneel Lal

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The National party’s opposition to the bill outlawing conversion therapy is anti-children – a ban would send a message to all queer people that they are valid

New Zealand’s National party promised grassroots activists that they would vote in favour of banning conversion practices, but last month they were the only party to vote against a bill doing just that. We, the queer community, were blindsided by their new position and hurt by the numerous National MPs who had promised us we could trust them to be allies.

National party leader Judith Collins maintains that the party supports a ban on gay conversion practices but is concerned that the current bill could criminalise parents who counsel their children and has labelled the proposed bill “anti-parents”. As a survivor of conversion practice, I believe National’s position is anti-children.

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New Zealand stabbings: officials tried for years to deport terrorist prior to Auckland attack, Jacinda Ardern says

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Jacinda Ardern says ‘every legal avenue’ was used to detain Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen until his refugee status was resolved

New Zealand had tried for years to deport the terrorist who stabbed shoppers in an Auckland supermarket on Friday before being shot dead by the police officers tasked with watching him, the country’s prime minister has said.

Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, a 32-year-old Sri Lankan man, was fighting to keep his refugee status in New Zealand when he carried out the attack, which Jacinda Ardern said was inspired by the Islamic State.

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New Zealand stabbings: police made repeated attempts to curb ‘highly paranoid’ man

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As number of victims updated from six to seven, police say ‘every legal avenue’ was explored to try to contain threat of attack

Seven people were injured in the Islamic State-inspired terror attack in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern has said, updating initial reports that only six people had been hurt.

Speaking at a media conference in Wellington on Saturday, New Zealand’s prime minister said that of the seven injured, five were in hospital, and three of them were in a critical condition.

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Coronavirus live news: Denmark to give third jab to care home residents; UK watchdog rules out vaccine for children

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Denmark has recorded a rise in cases in nursing homes; UK vaccines watchdog says not enough evidence to roll out Covid jabs to 12- to 15-year-olds; North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has ordered officials to fight Covid in ‘our style’

Consumers have been warned of an autumn rise in living costs from sharp increases in household energy bills and food prices, as Covid and Brexit disruption ripple through the UK economy.

Sounding the alarm for a wide range of products and services going up in price, business leaders said the UK was facing a “perfect storm” of worker shortages and problems with global supply chains that would lead to a burst of inflation within months.

Related: Inflation set to surge this autumn as Brexit and Covid combine

Here is a brief summary of all the big coronavirus news from so far today:

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New Zealand attack suspect ‘found with IS propaganda earlier this year’

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Judge said court report suggested man shot dead by police posed high risk of reoffending

The man shot dead by police after stabbing six people in an Islamic State-inspired attack on Friday was reportedly sentenced by a New Zealand court earlier in the year for possessing IS propaganda that encouraged acts of violence and terrorism.

The man, whose name is covered by legal suppression orders and who is referred to only as “S” in court proceedings, was reportedly found guilty by a jury of possessing objectionable material, and failing to assist a police officer exercise a search power.

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NZ shooting: PM Jacinda Ardern says ‘violent extremist’ under surveillance at time of attack – video

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New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says a man who allegedly attacked six people in an Auckland supermarket on Friday was a 'violent extremist' who was being monitored by police. In a press conference following the attack, she said police shot him dead within 60 seconds of the attack starting. Three people were in a critical condition. Ardern said: 'What happened today was despicable. It was hateful, it was wrong, it was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community. He alone carries the responsibility for these acts' 

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New Zealand: Covid-positive escapee had tried to flee hotel quarantine three times, officials say

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Man’s mother said she had called police on her son when he left home in Auckland after receiving his positive test result

A man who tested positive for Covid-19 before absconding from a quarantine facility in Auckland on Thursday had attempted to escape three times before he was successful, health officials report.

New Zealand police arrested the man at a south Auckland address on Thursday afternoon, roughly 10km from the Novotel Ibis hotel in Ellerslie, where he was quarantining. He had been in the community for at least 12 hours at the time of his arrest.

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New Zealand police surround address after Covid-positive man escapes quarantine

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Man was arrested later by police in full protective equipment who had sealed off the Auckland property

A Covid-positive man absconded from a managed quarantine facility in central Auckland on Thursday, prompting New Zealand police to respond to the incident in full protective equipment.

Officers surrounded and cordoned off an address in Ōtāhuhu, south Auckland, after being told of the escape from the facility in Ellerslie, about 10km away (six miles) away. The person was was later arrested.

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