The country is heading into the middle of winter and Covid-19 cases are rising, with some health experts saying a newer variant could swamp Aotearoa in the next few weeks.
Cases of BA-5 are roughly doubling every week and account for 15 to 20 percent of cases.
The subvariant is more more transmissible, meaning we could see a winter peak that's similar to the March wave with new daily cases exceeding 20,000.
And remember right now the health system is juggling high levels of the flu.
There are 6,498 Covid cases today, with 487 people in hospital. Hospitals are already full to overflowing and GPs have bursting waiting rooms with long enrolment lists.
Aanei te kai ripoata a Jake McKee.
