Stories by Rowan Quinn

Auckland is at greater risk from the coronavirus flare-up than the rest of the country, a leading Covid-19 data modeller says.

Epidemiologist Michael Baker says a zero Covid-19 case day is a great symbolic milestone, but in his job, one day doesn't count for much.

Hospitals are being told to consider putting off surgery for seriously overweight people and those over 70 unless it is urgent.

Intensive care units at Dunedin and Invercargill hospitals would have been overwhelmed before the end of this month if the worst-case scenario for Covid-19 had played out.

A cancer patient spent "precious days" in Palmerston North Hospital waiting for a procedure that should have taken an hour.

Up to 400 people could die from cancer if hospitals don't catch up quickly enough after the lockdown, the Cancer Society says.

An Invercargill nurse describes her team's daily conditions on nine-hour shifts in PPE and how camaraderie is getting them through.

Record numbers of people have been turning up at some Covid-19 testing centres, many with the most minor of symptoms.

An Invercargill woman fighting for her life - and five of her family members - still don't know how they got Covid -19.

Intensive care specialist Andrew Stapleton spent much of last month preparing for the worst case scenario - hospitals overwhelmed by critically ill patients.

An estimated 30,000 people have missed out on surgery because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Last minute - sometimes random - testing is being done in a handful of areas as the Ministry of Health looks to fill gaps in its Covid-19 data.

Burwood Hospital general manager Dan Coward says frontline workers only had access to full face visors and the safer N95 masks since yesterday.

New guidelines for health workers' access to masks and other protective gear are being criticised as more about rationing than caring for staff. Audio

Electronic bracelets should be strongly considered for travellers arriving from overseas, prominent scientist Nick Wilson says.

The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine is changing its guidelines to say frontline hospital staff should wear ordinary surgical masks when dealing with all patients.

Hutt Hospital has created a new intensive care unit in less than two weeks, as hospitals around the country race to prepare for Covid-19.

Thousands of fertility treatments have been cancelled or postponed because the services are not considered essential.

Some doctors are sending their children away from home during the lockdown as they struggle with childcare while working on the Covid-19 frontline.

Hospitals are planning to cancel operations and convert theatres to intensive care units if needed to keep people alive in a Covid-19 outbreak.

The man who led New Zealand's response to the last global pandemic says buying time is critical to how the Covid-19 will impact on New Zealand.

People in rest homes could be in dire circumstances if the coronavirus hits and they don't get enough back up from district health boards, says a retirement village chief executive. Video, Audio

GPs have run out of masks and other protective gear and say that makes them vulnerable to the novel coronavirus, while the government holds on to 18 million masks. Audio

Delayed breast cancer diagnoses for 35 women shows South Aucklanders are victims of an almost third-world health system, Cancer Society chief executive Mike Kernaghan says.

Thirty-five South Auckland women had their diagnoses of breast cancer delayed last year as Counties Manukau DHB struggles to see patients on time.