Covid 19

New Zealand has no plans to test international arrivals, as some countries tighten restrictions for travellers from China where case numbers are soaring.

More than 32,000 new cases have been reported in the last week, but numbers are down on the week before.

China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from 8 January, the National Health Commission says.

Hundreds of people are spending their Christmas in hospital with Covid, while thousands more are at home, but in isolation.

Bloomberg News reported today that nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with Covid on a single day this past week, citing estimates from the government's top health authority.

Molnupiravir didn't lower hospital admission rates in Omicron patients, but helped those with mild illnesses recover faster.

It says half the city's 25 million people will get infected while the virus sweeps through China unchecked.

Michael Baker estimates 85,000 people will be in isolation in three days' time.

The baby at the centre of a stand-off over the use of vaccinated people's blood is understood to have been discharged from Starship children's hospital.

The government's business support loan scheme during Covid-19 restrictions has scope for improvement, according to an interim evaluation.

Medsafe has granted provisional approval for two Pfizer Covid-19 booster vaccines which target Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.4/5.

As China battles a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, there are growing reports that it's getting harder and harder to bury the dead.

Jacinda Ardern says while the number of cases and hospitalisations is serious, the health system is better able to cope now than before.

Analysis - With the year drawing to a close, the sounds that seem to sum up the season are less jingling bells and carols, more the cough of Covid-19 and an enormous, exhausted sigh of relief, Tim…

The pre-Christmas period puts New Zealanders at high risk of exposure to Covid-19. Even at small gatherings of 10 people, the probability someone has the virus has increased from 2-3 percent to about…

Covid-19 vaccination rates have plateaued since September, with about 64,000 given out each month at the moment.

A possible peak in the number of people in hospital could be driven by older people getting the virus for the first time. Audio

Our emergency departments are already bursting at the seams, Auckland City Hospital surgeon Li Hsee says. Audio

The Ministry of Health says BA.2.75 looks like it is more transmissible and can evade immunity from other variants but more data is needed to be certain.