All new cases are in Auckland, with 62 within the Pacific community
New Zealand’s Covid-19 outbreak has worsened, with 82 new cases taking the total infected to 415.
All of Saturday’s cases were in Auckland, with the Pacific community again over-represented with 62 cases.
Continue reading...A satellite tag which unexpectedly kept working for a year has followed one whale’s 15,000km journey across three oceans
A loud bang shatters the winter calm of Port Ross, in New Zealand’s remote Auckland Islands, and the small inflatable boat is rocked by the swirl of a 40-ton whale being swallowed up by the cold, dark water.
When it resurfaces, the team of scientists are happy to see their US$3,200 satellite tag securely fixed to his side. The whale, whom they have nicknamed “Bill”, slips away into the ocean, the tag transmitting his movements. A few days later, researchers watch as he starts heading west towards Australia.
Continue reading...WHO to ship 100m doses of Sinovac and Sinopharm by the end of next month, while the number of coronavirus patients in US hospitals has breached the 100,000 mark again
Two government advisers have told i news that prime minister Boris Johnson has privately accepted that there could be at least 30,000 further Covid-related deaths in the UK over the next year.
Johnson would reportedly “only consider imposing further restrictions if that figure looked like it could rise above 50,000”, with the government adopting a cost-benefit analysis on whether to impose restrictions which takes into account the economic impact and controversially put the level of acceptable cost to save a life at up to £30,000.
The prime minister is minded to implement another lockdown or new restrictions only if the figure of annual deaths looks like it’s going to go above 50,000. That means deaths from Covid of 137 a day, or just under 1,000 a week.
However, it won’t be an immediate reaction. A sustained rate of death of around a 1,000 a week for two or three weeks will, though, lead to discussion on restrictions being reimposed. Unfortunately, prime ministers have to weigh up the cost of saving lives to the impact on the economy. No one wants to talk about that’s how it works.
Decisions about how much to intervene to improve public health are always difficult for governments. Measures such as vaccinating children against meningitis or imposing speed limits on roads reduce death and disease, but also cost money and limit freedoms.
Finding the balance is one of the hardest decisions for governments, but is essentially what we vote politicians to do. In normal times, it is possible to use calculations of, say, cost per life saved, to provide some framework to guide decisions. In the UK, if an intervention costs less than £30,000 per year of life saved, then it is usually accepted in terms of healthcare.
That’s it from me today. Time to hand over to my colleague, Mattha Busby.
Here’s a brief roundup of what’s been happening over the past 24 hours:
Continue reading...Prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand was ending further flights into Kabul, due to the continuing threat of terrorist attacks. The announcement followed an attack at the airport on Thursday that killed least 60 Afghans and 13 US soldiers.
Ardern said she did not know how many visa holders from Afghanistan remained in the country, nor how many of those registered on SafeTravel managed to get out, but said New Zealand had not given up on trying to bring visa-holders home
Continue reading...Auckland and the neighbouring region of Northland are likely to stay in level 4 lockdown for another two weeks
New Zealand will remain in a full lockdown until midnight on Tuesday, with regions south of Auckland moving to level 3 after then, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced.
The update came after 70 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the community, bringing the total number in New Zealand’s outbreak to 347.
Continue reading...An Instagram account had called on people to get involved in the Queen Street demonstration
A one-person anti-lockdown protest in central Auckland has been shut down, after the police were alerted to discussions of a potential gathering on social media.
New Zealand police said officers were on Queen Street on Friday after hearing a protest was being planned, but only one person arrived with the intention of protesting, Newshub reported.
Continue reading...Case rates rising in England except London and Yorkshire & the Humber; thousands of shots from Moderna batch given before use suspended
UK ministers have been accused of doing the “bare minimum” to curb companies charging “misleading” prices for Covid travel tests and instead have been urged to name and shame the firms.
Ahead of a review of the traffic light system of quarantine rules which government sources said was unlikely to result in many major changes, Labour urged the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to take tougher action against businesses “exploiting” the pandemic by imposing “rip-off” prices.
Related: Ministers doing bare minimum to stop Covid travel test ‘rip-offs’, says Labour
Newquay is reeling after health officials said that almost 5,000 cases had been linked to the music and surfing festival Boardmasters, which took place in the Cornish town earlier this month, my colleague Steven Morris reports. About three-quarters of them were aged 16-21 and about 800 live in Cornwall. Many of those who attended believe the number of infections is probably much higher.
It prompted tourism bosses to urge people not to visit the region unless they had pre-booked and to test themselves for Covid-19 before, during and after their stay.
Related: ‘It’s really hit us now’: Newquay becomes England’s Covid capital
Continue reading...Prime minister says she is achieving her goals of saving lives and jobs, and giving people as much normalcy as possible
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has dismissed criticism of her ambitious elimination strategy to stamp out Covid, as the country’s outbreak grows, saying the approach has saved lives and will continue to do so.
On Thursday, the coronavirus outbreak grew by 68 cases, taking the total number of cases to 277. One previously reported case has been reclassified after being confirmed as a false positive.
Continue reading...Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi lost the recent election and was succeeded by the country’s first female leader, an outcome he is blaming on the New Zealand PM
The former prime minister of Samoa has accused Jacinda Ardern of being behind the recent political crisis in Samoa, suggesting she had wanted to install a female prime minister.
“I am starting to get suspicious maybe New Zealand is behind all of this,” said Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, during an interview with TV1 on Sunday night.
Continue reading...Covid response minister says it would be a waste to stop aiming for elimination after plan was questioned by foreign media
New Zealand’s Covid response minister says the country will not “throw in the towel” with its elimination strategy, as cases continue to rise.
New Zealand announced 63 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 210 cases. It is the largest single-day jump since the outbreak began last week, and 12 people are hospitalised with the virus.
Continue reading...Ashley Bloomfield urges everyone to be kind amid rise in online abuse after outbreak at Auckland church service that took place before lockdown
New Zealand’s director general of health has condemned “gutless” racism against Pacific communities, as the Covid-19 outbreak continues to grow.
Announcing case numbers on Wednesday, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the ministry of health had seen racism being directed at Pacific New Zealanders, and that those racist remarks were “disappointing – and frankly, gutless”.
Continue reading...Newly released documents show government backed a vaccine patent waiver only after the US changed its position
Many New Zealanders like to think of their government as a principled actor in international affairs. Discussions of New Zealand’s role in foreign policy in recent years often laud New Zealand’s nuclear-free stance in the 1980s. There is widespread pride in New Zealand’s “independent foreign policy”, including its decision not to go to war in Iraq in 2003.
But the story of New Zealand’s role in the world, historically and today, is much more complex than these cliches would suggest. Documents just released under the Official Information Act provide another example of a murkier world of New Zealand foreign policy decision-making.
Continue reading...Some British media have been mocking New Zealand for going into Covid lockdown over one case, but it’s hard to find downsides to the approach
Physician, heal thyself. This phrase has been in my thoughts ever since global media outlets, most of them British, started mocking New Zealand’s Covid elimination strategy last week.
I’m a proud British passport holder, and spent some of my best years in London, but not once during this pandemic have I ever wished to be anywhere except New Zealand. That holds true even though we’re now back in lockdown while the British freely enjoy what passes for a summer there.
Continue reading...Cluster has grown to 148 people, with experts saying it could grow to 1,000 and take four to six weeks to stamp out
New Zealand is bracing for its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet as cases rise, the locations of interest balloon to more than 400 sites, and the number of close contacts swells to more than 15,700 people.
On Tuesday, the country recorded 41 new positive cases, bringing the total number in its outbreak to 148 – the majority of whom are Samoan, and linked to a sub-cluster who assembled at the Assembly of God church in Mangere, Auckland before the lockdown.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern said outbreak was not thought to have peaked and that country must ‘hold the course’
New Zealand’s nationwide lockdown is extending until at least the end of the week, as the country battles to contain an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
Auckland – the country’s largest city, where the majority of cases are – will remain in lockdown until the end of the month.
Continue reading...At a press briefing, Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins made an unintentional X-rated error, telling Kiwis that they should socially distance when they 'spread their legs'.
Continue reading...Chris Hipkins delivered some light relief from Covid news with an x-rated health advice slip-up
A slip of the tongue from New Zealand’s Covid-19 response minister as he was updating the nation live on the coronavirus outbreak has given the country a lighthearted, albeit slightly x-rated, break from regular pandemic coverage.
At a media briefing on Sunday, minister Chris Hipkins was updating the country on the growing number of coronavirus cases in the community, when he urged New Zealanders to socially distance when they go outside to “spread their legs”.
Continue reading...Chris Hipkins said the Delta variant was ‘like nothing we’ve dealt with so far’
The arrival of the Delta strain in New Zealand has prompted the country’s Covid-19 response minister to question the efficacy of its ambitious elimination strategy – an approach that has been the backbone of the country’s pandemic response.
Chris Hipkins told current affairs programme Q+A on Sunday that Delta raised “big questions about the long-term future of our plans”.
Continue reading...In this extract from her new book, New Zealand writer Megan Dunn describes her time answering the phone at Belle de Jour
I got a job at Belle de Jour in 1998. I was 24 years old and had just graduated from art school. What did I need next? Life experience.
The neon sign hung in the window of the ranch slider. The massage parlour logo was of a vintage femme fatale: a raven-haired Betty Page-ish beauty with bright red lips who wore a cheetah V-neck and elbow-length black gloves and toked a cigarette in a cigarette holder. Like Lauren Bacall. One of those classic screen sirens, a quip at the ready. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Slim? You just put your lips together and…
Continue reading...Country records 21 new cases, its worst single day for transmission since April last year
Jacinda Ardern has warned New Zealanders the worst of the Delta outbreak of Covid-19 is yet to come after another jump in cases.
New Zealand recorded 21 fresh community cases on Saturday, the country’s worst single day for transmission since April last year.
Continue reading...