Covid 19 Omicron: Traffic light setting decision day as thousands of Aussie travellers fly in

New Zealand’s border has reopened to Australian citizens and permanent residents with thousands flying into the country today as New Zealanders await the Government’s traffic light setting announcement later today. Australian citizens and permanent residents travelling from anywhere in the world can enter New Zealand from today without having to self-isolate. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said New Zealand can expect

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Officials set to release new figures, death toll nears 500

Health officials are set to release the latest confirmed case numbers of New Zealand’s Omicron variant outbreak – as the country’s death toll nears 500. The Ministry of Health will release case numbers and the number of any further deaths in the past 24 hours at 1pm. Yesterday they confirmed a further 10 Covid-related deaths – taking the reported death

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Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Today’s case numbers revealed as hospitals continue to grapple with staff shortages

There are 18,423 new Covid cases today and 11 new deaths to report with 913 people in hospital. Twenty-eight people are in intensive care units. In a statement, the Ministry of Health said today’s deaths take the total number of publicly reported deaths with Covid-19 to 221 and the seven-day rolling average of reported deaths to 10. Of the 11

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: 15,161 community cases, one death, 618 in hospital today

There are 15,161 new community cases of Covid-19 today, 618 people are in hospital and one person has died with Covid. The Ministry of Health said the person died at Auckland Hospital. “The person had unrelated medical conditions and had tested positive for Covid-19.” Of the 618 people in hospital, 10 are in intensive care. The ministry said the decrease

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Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: New Zealand’s reproduction number highest in the world, model shows

COVID LATEST• Omicron outbreak: Infected baby hospitalised after two negative test results• Riot police move in on Parliament protest during late-night tensions• All Black Joeli Vidiri died in wife’s arms after catching Covid on wedding trip• School closes for two weeks with an Omicron case in almost every class New Zealand currently has one of the highest R values for

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Labs face bottleneck as new variant scotches batch processing of samples

The Omicron wave is stripping away one of New Zealand’s trustiest test tools, as labs are forced to move away from batch-processing of samples. But scientists hope that a PCR testing bottleneck on labs from the loss of time-saving “pooled sampling” will be offset as more Kiwis self-diagnose using rapid antigen tests. In pooled sampling, up to 10 test samples

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Big outbreak predicted as PM warns ‘prepare for winter’

Forecasters estimate more than one million New Zealanders will be infected with Omicron and hundreds will die within the next few months, as the Prime Minister warns the country to “prepare for winter”. The new modelling has prompted warnings from leaders in Māori health and intensive care that the Omicron surge could soon grow much worse, while one expert describes

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: New locations of interest in Auckland, Nelson Airport, Gisborne McDonald’s

A number of new locations of interest have been published by the Ministry of Health, including an Auckland clothing story, Nelson Airport and a Gisborne McDonald’s. Shoppers at Connor in Botany Town Centre in East Tamaki on Friday January 28 between 12.15pm and 10pm are being asked to monitor for symptoms for 10 days after the potential exposure, and to

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