Covid 19

It could be a week or two before case numbers show what impact the new traffic light system is having, says microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles.

Soumya Swaminathan told the Reuters Next conference it was too early to say if vaccines would need to be reworked because of the variant.

The Omicron coronavirus variant spread in Australia on Saturday, testing plans to reopen the economy as a cluster in Sydney grew to 13 cases.

An anti-vaxx protest that shut down the centre of Newmarket in Auckland may have cost local businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost customers, says the local business association.

The New Plymouth Positive Ageing Trust says allowing people open access to many council facilities in the city without the use of a vaccine pass is putting lives at risk.

Unvaccinated Whangārei ratepayers barred from council facilities under New Zealand's new traffic light Covid-19 Protection Framework should not be expecting their rates to be reduced as a result.

Pharmacists say they are stretched and tired, providing Covid-19 vaccines and passes on top of their usual mahi.

In the Bay of Plenty most of the region has moved to the orange light, but some businesses have chosen to do things differently.

The Covid-19 outbreak in Nelson seems to have given people the nudge they needed to get their first vaccination.

Despite having no active cases of Covid-19 in the community Whanganui woke to find itself in the red zone today.

The new traffic light system for managing Covid-19 came in today with Auckland going into the red setting and the city reopening after more than 100 days in lockdown.

There are two new Covid-19 cases in the Wairoa District, both household contacts of a previously reported case from outside the region.

There are fears from health professionals that the government's sudden boost in hospital funding to prepare for Covid-19 cases is overly-ambitious so late into the pandemic.

Ninety percent of the eligible population across Tāmaki Makaurau are now fully vaccinated, health authorities have confirmed.

Health officials are working to determine the source of the Covid-19 outbreak in the top of the South Island.

The Deputy Prime Minister has hit back at claims that NZ is a divided nation over vaccinations, saying the numbers "simply do not bear that out". Watch the government's latest Covid-19 briefing here.

A Taranaki iwi leader is urging whānau to get tested and vaccinated in light of Covid-19 returning to the region.

More than 91 percent of Wellingtonians are now fully vaccinated but deep pockets of low coverage persist in some areas, particularly poorer neighbourhoods.

Police will be assisted by iwi to make sure people are double-vaccinated or have proof of negative test results when the Auckland border opens, the Police Commissioner says. Audio