Stories by Rowan Quinn

Some frontline doctors and nurses worry the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Auckland will fuel more cases in the community.

There are fears mystery Covid cases in Auckland and the Waikato could be the tip of an iceberg of undetected transmission. Audio

Auckland Hospital is preparing to deal with an average of six Covid deaths a week next year, even with a 90 percent vaccination rate.

A Covid-19 testing team working with families in emergency housing says many are frightened about being tested and the possibility of being separated.

There are calls for a major new targeted approach to stamp Delta out, including door-to-door testing in communities where the virus could be lurking.

The city is already at 80 percent but those on the ground say the next 10 percent will be more challenging and will take some creative thinking.

Alert level 3 is being called a roll of the dice that could either eliminate Delta or send the country back into level 4.

An anaesthetist who is volunteering as a Covid-19 vaccinator in his level 4 downtime says he is loving being part of the drive to immunise Auckland.

Middlemore Hospital has begun testing new patients for Covid-19 after five patients have turned up unaware they had the virus until tested there. Audio

A record 220,000 Aucklanders could be vaccinated this week but it would take every available bit of space in the system.

Seven Auckland suburbs will be the focus of testing and contact tracing this week as health officials try to crack the mystery Covid cases likely to keep the city at level 4.

The government has bought the extra doses from Spain to tide it through until its next major shipment from Pfizer in October and prevent a slowing in the high vaccination rates sparked by alert level…

Test results from 149 patients and staff at Middlemore Hospital have come back negative for Covid-19 after a man admitted at the weekend was found to have the virus. Audio

Covid-19 swabbing numbers have been falling so fast in Auckland that some centres closed early at the weekend.

A Dunedin nurse who's leaving his family behind to help with Auckland's Covid-19 effort says he's doing it to keep them - and the whole country - safe.

All three of Auckland's main hospitals are building more negative pressure rooms to keep up with the Delta strain of Covid-19.

Auckland's hospitals are asking others around the country to send intensive care nurses to help them cope with the Covid outbreak.

Urgent building work is underway at Auckland City Hospital to prepare more room for Covid-19 patients.

Hospitals are honing their surge plans for dealing with Covid-19, with the rate of hospitalisation higher than previous outbreaks.

The Novotel Hotel in Auckland will become city's newest covid quarantine facility from midday tomorrow.

The enormous pressure on contact tracers is expected to ease over the next few days - but only if case numbers drop as hoped.

Auckland health authorities are urgently recruiting more contact tracers as the national system hits capacity five days into the Delta outbreak.

An Auckland vaccination clinic is doing about half the numbers it was before the lockdown - but is relieved to be back up and running.

Nurses have call off strike action set for 19 August following a community case of Covid-19 in Auckland and a nationwide lockdown.

The huge spike in the respiratory virus RSV that has been overwhelming hospitals has eased, but there's a warning further surges can be expected.