Category Archives: New Zealand

Coronavirus live news: Jacinda Ardern says Trump’s ‘patently wrong’ on New Zealand’s Covid cases

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Trump described NZ’s ‘terrible’ surge, despite 90 active cases in country; Ibiza to ban pool parties, as Spain infections surge. Follow the latest

These look like scenes of yesteryear but thousands of people packed out a water park in Wuhan, China, over the weekend as much of the rest of the world remained under lockdown restrictions.

VIDEO: Crowds packed out a water park over the weekend in the central Chinese city of #Wuhan, where the #coronavirus first emerged late last year, keen to party as the city edges back to normal life pic.twitter.com/SJFBmx5sU8

The Philippines’ health ministry confirmed 4,836 novel coronavirus infections, the seventh consecutive day of reporting more than 3,000 daily cases, Reuters reports.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 169,213, while there were seven additional deaths – bringing the total toll to 2,687.

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‘Big surge’: Trump angers New Zealand with coronavirus comments – video

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Donald Trump has called out New Zealand for its recent Covid-19 outbreak, saying places once hailed as a success story in the pandemic are now facing a 'big surge' in cases. However, New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern said there was 'no comparison' between the situation in her country and that in in the US

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Worker at New Zealand quarantine hotel tests positive for Covid-19

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New case is not linked to main outbreak in Auckland, which has so far infected 69 people

A new case of Covid-19 separate from the main cluster has been confirmed in New Zealand, with the infected person identified as a maintenance worker in a quarantine hotel in Auckland.

On Tuesday, 13 new cases were confirmed, with 12 relating to the Auckland cluster, which now numbers 69 in total.

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Coronavirus live news: Czech Republic reintroducing mask wearing; New Zealand postpones election

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Czech Republic sees resurgence of coronavirus infections; India death toll passes 50,000; Japan GDP falls at annual rate of 27.8%

In the UK, the government has performed a juddering u-turn to say that this summer’s exam results will be based on teacher assessment rather than a controversial standardisation model that prompted fury from students who found themselves sharply downgraded on the basis of their schools’ previous performance.

My colleagues Richard Adams and Sally Weale have a write-up here...

Related: A-level and GCSE results in England to be based on teacher assessments in U-turn

Related: UK coronavirus: England joins other countries in U-turning on exam results after mass outcry – live news

Earlier we posted a link to an interesting El Pais piece which noted that in recent months the average age of those newly infected with coronavirus had dropped significantly. If you’re interested in this phenomenon and its consequences more broadly, take a look at this piece by our own Jon Henley from last week:

Unlike during the early months of the crisis in March and April, when older people accounted for the biggest share of cases, in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium 20 to 39-year-olds now represent up to 40% of new infections...

The challenge for governments and health agencies, experts say, is to prevent the virus from spreading to more vulnerable populations. “There’s no reason to imagine it can be contained to just one age group, without affecting others, Pascal Crépey, an epidemiologist and public health expert, told Le Parisien.

Related: Surge in Covid-19 cases across Europe linked to young people

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By delaying the New Zealand election Jacinda Ardern appears magnanimous and conciliatory | Bryce Edwards

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Keeping the date while her own party’s polling was sky-high would have looked like self-interest; instead she has been praised for her leadership

At its heart, democracy is about participation. And yet, there have been serious questions about the quality and quantity of public engagement expected in this year’s general election, given the Covid-19 crisis overshadowing everything at the moment in New Zealand. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern has therefore made the right decision to delay the election by a month.

Voter turnout has been trending downwards in recent decades, hitting a low point in 2011 of only 69.6% of eligible voters. It’s plausible that in 2020 it could drop below even this. If the election were still to be held in just a few weeks, as originally scheduled, this would have been especially possible.

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Jacinda Ardern postpones New Zealand election due to coronavirus – video

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Jacinda Ardern has postponed the New Zealand general election by four weeks, to 17 October, but ruled out delaying it any further, as the country tackles a new outbreak of the coronavirus. The outbreak centres on New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, after the country had been free of coronavirus cases for 102 days 

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Island nations have the edge in keeping Covid away – or most do

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Nations from New Zealand to Cuba closed borders promptly with strict quarantine rules, but the UK won’t admit its ‘serious mistake’

Island nations have an advantage when it comes to stopping travellers importing disease, be it Covid or other infections.

Seas are usually harder to cross than land, and beaches are easier to police. There are no cross-border towns, and fewer ways to sneak over frontiers.

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New Zealand has 69 active Covid cases after 13 more diagnosed

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Twelve spread in community while 13th emerged in a quarantined returning traveller, say authorities; PM Ardern due to decide on election

New Zealand on Sunday reported 13 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus for the last 24 hours, as the country’s first outbreak in months continued to grow.

All but one of the new cases were from community transmission and appeared to be linked to a cluster in Auckland where the most recent outbreak started, said Ashley Bloomfield, the New Zealand director general of health. The 13th was a traveller who returned from abroad and was in managed quarantine.

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New Zealand lockdown: Everything was normal and then it wasn’t

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The international news looked like a terrible movie – but then we were reminded that life can change so much in a short amount of time

There is an added level of anxiety when you live with your stubborn 60-year-old father with underlying health problems. Add a deadly virus to the mix and your anxiety is on the verge of daily tears.

“I’ve been working hard since I was 15,” my dad tells me as he leaves to work the Wednesday morning of lockdown.

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Jacinda Ardern extends Auckland coronavirus lockdown by 12 days – video

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New Zealand has reported 13 new cases of coronavirus, with two cases emerging from Auckland where the country’s outbreak began. The two cases occurred in the Waikato town of Tokoroa, 125 miles south of New Zealand’s biggest city, and were linked to the Auckland outbreak, bringing the number of cases in the cluster to 29. One person is being treated in hospital.

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said Auckland would remain in lockdown for an additional 12 days as health workers try to contain the 'perimeter' of the outbreak, the source of which remains a mystery. She said a North Island-wide lockdown was not being considered

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New Zealand Covid-19 cases all linked to single cluster, with more cases expected

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Cabinet to meet at 3pm to discuss Auckland lockdown as health minister Chris Hipkins says city not yet looking at moving from level three to four

New Zealand is not yet looking at a level 4 lockdown, because the rising number of Covid-19 cases are all related to a single cluster, the health minister has said.

Chris Hipkins told Radio NZ that more than one cluster would have to be circulating for the country to rise to level 4 restrictions, and so far there was no evidence of that, though more cases from the same cluster had emerged overnight.

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‘Here we go again’: Auckland fears a long lockdown as coronavirus returns

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Shops start stockpiling and charities helping with financial hardship expect flood of calls as PM warns outbreak will get worse

“I’m not afraid because I’m taking precautions,” says Nadeep Singh, a travel agent in Papatoetoe, the South Auckland suburb that has reportedly sparked a return to lockdown and a pivotal change in the country’s battle with the pandemic.

His business was closed to customers but Singh was working “flat out” – alone in his locked office – getting refunds for clients who are now unable to take the trips they had booked with him.

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New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern warns Covid-19 cluster will ‘grow before it slows’ – video

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New Zealand leader has said Auckland’s Covid-19 outbreak will get worse before it gets better, and warned of extended lockdowns after the country reported the first new cases in 102 days without community transmission. Ardern stressed New Zealand’s approach of going hard early remained their best chance of slowing the spread and urged caution over growing misinformation around coronavirus

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‘Bombs can’t kill viruses’: Hawaii faces backlash as international war games approach

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As coronavirus case numbers soar, the state prepares to host Rimpac, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise

In a year when the coronavirus has caused multinational war games to be conducted virtually or canceled, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise begins in Hawaii next week.

The Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) war games, which run through the end of August, come as Hawaii struggles to contain community spread of the coronavirus amid what has become the highest reproduction rate in the country.

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New Zealand PM says Covid-19 outbreak will ‘get worse’ as Auckland cluster grows

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Jacinda Ardern sound ominous tone, with expectation of a long lockdown for the country’s biggest city

Covid-19 may have been circulating in New Zealand’s biggest city for weeks, the country’s top health official has said, as 13 new community cases were confirmed – all linked to the four cases announced on Tuesday.

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the growing cluster in Auckland, now totalling 17, “would get worse before it gets better” in the city of more than 1.4 million people.

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Coronavirus live news: Auckland back in lockdown; Paris marathon cancelled as cases rise

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France cancels marathon as cases pick up; WHO warns displacement of people in Beirut risks accelerating spread; four new cases in Auckland

Jordan will close its only land trade border crossing with Syria for a week after a spike in Covid-19 cases coming from its northern neighbour, officials said.

They said the interior minister’s decision to close the main Jaber border crossing would come into effect on Thursday morning.

Britain’s NatWest is cutting at least 500 jobs across its retail business and closing one of its remaining offices in London as banks press on with cost-cutting in the face of a wave of expected loan losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The state-backed bank is finalising a voluntary redundancy round targeting cutting 550 full-time equivalent roles across its branches and ‘premier banking’ premium service, union Unite told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of people working for banks have risen to the challenge that the pandemic created. The banks’ response should not be a repeat of the austerity measures that we saw after the financial crisis.

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Jacinda Ardern must use her power to push New Zealand to more progressive politics | Morgan Godfery

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The PM promised transformative government, but has so far largely maintained the status quo

Jacinda Ardern was travelling in a taxi in July 2017, two months before the election that would make her prime minister, when arguably the most important message in her nine-year parliamentary career came through. Labour’s poll results were crashing, the message said, and the party leader – the austere Andrew Little – was considering stepping down. Would Ardern, the then deputy leader, consider stepping up?

In the following days calls went back and forth. The party activists (and MPs at risk of losing their seats) were in the pits, and Little told the country’s leading current affairs show resigning had crossed his mind. From that admission, the poll numbers could only fall further. The Greens were at 15% , sucking up votes to Labour’s left while the conservative National party was polling in the mid-to-high 40s, maintaining an iron grip on the centre right.

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Jacinda Ardern pushes stability over change in New Zealand’s ‘Covid election’

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The prime minister is pitching a mix of steady leadership and big-spending policies to voters after a world-leading coronavirus response

On her first public outing since launching her party’s election campaign the day before, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, spent Sunday morning at a farmers’ market in central Auckland where she walked among friends, posed for selfies and did her vegetable shopping.

Ardern is riding high in the polls – as is the Labour party – on the back of her stewardship of the country’s Covid-19 response. Her strong position has been aided by troubles within the opposition National party, which is heading into September’s election with its third leader in as many months.

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Australia’s sheep left without shearers as Covid halts travel from New Zealand

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Nation is facing shortage of shearers for its 68 million sheep as hundreds are barred from taking their usual trip across the Tasman Sea

It’s a tradition that stretches back decades. Every year, hundreds of New Zealanders fly in to Australia for the spring shearing season – a huge mobilisation of workers essential to the success of the nation’s wool industry.

In dusty sheds on outback farms they join up with local shearers and, between them, relieve five million sheep of their fleeces over eight weeks.

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