Most businesses have been found to be complying with the government’s wage subsidy scheme. The Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) team of 100 fraud investigators has been carrying out random audits of the 759,000 applicants who received money from the $14 billion fund. Documents released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show that of […]

New Zealand has posted its biggest annual trade surplus in 28 years as Covid-19 led to a sharp fall in imports. Official numbers show a surplus of $2.2 billion for the year ended October, the biggest since July 1992. The surplus was driven by a 10 percent slump in imports during the period, notably in […]

New Zealand citizens and residents say the government’s solution to reuniting them with their overseas partners has led to unexpected, unfair and dangerous consequences. Some are crying foul over a two-tier system allowing border exemptions to partners from richer visa-waiver countries. Those left out of the exemptions say they are resorting to flying into Covid-19 […]

It comes as two New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) staff are at the centre of the latest community outbreak, with one travelling from Auckland to Wellington after getting infected. The MOH said it had sent push notifications to the smartphones of people who used the Covid Tracer to log in at “several locations of interest” […]

The vouchers will be released daily into the booking system, on a first in first served basis, and are available now. Webb says the rooms had been set aside to guard against a spike in demand. If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 […]

There are two new cases in managed isolation facilities today, and no new community cases. The first imported case arrived on 9 October from India via Dubai and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton. They tested positive on day three and have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility. The second imported […]

There is one new case of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today. It is a person who arrived from the US and is now in quarantine. The Ministry of Health said the person tested positive on day three testing in managed isolation in Christchurch. They are now in quarantine. The person arrived from the US […]

Migration has slowed to a trickle in New Zealand, with just 300 or so people a month migrating here since the borders closed in late March. Overall net migration from April to August was provisionally estimated at 1700, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday – as a net 5200 New Zealand citizens came into the […]

The Australian government says it has finalised a deal for a limited travel bubble across the Tasman, but New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern says the country is still not ready to have quarantine-free travel. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he spoke to his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern earlier today. Announcing the news across the […]

New Zealand is used by a World Health Organisation spokesperson as an example of a country whose Covid-19 response has been effectively communicated to communities. WHO’s special envoy on Covid-19, Dr David Nabarro, recently told a British magazine the organisation now believes lockdowns should only be used to buy authorities time to set up the […]