While restrictions still apply, it will mean a lot more freedom for everyone as everywhere apart from Auckland drops to alert level 2 from 11.59pm on Tuesday. The key differences to the previous level 2 restrictions are limits on gatherings. Indoors, such as in hospitality settings or event venues, the maximum number of people allowed […]

There are 21 new community cases of Covid-19 in the country today. Except for Auckland, businesses across the country were busy making preparations on Tuesday to reopen under level 2 conditions.

Fruit marketer T&G Global is starting a new business to commercialise innovative fruits, and expects to launch 50 new varieties in the next five years, including a yellow raspberry. The business, VentureFruit, will invest with breeding organisations and research institutes and lead the commercialisation of new varieties. Developing new varieties of fruit can take about […]

There has been a surge in the number of Aucklanders checking out property outside the region over this lockdown, Homes.co.nz says. The property listings website analysed the percentage of users in Auckland who were also researching properties in other areas at three different 10-day intervals. It found that over the first 10 days of the […]

Visa processing at what used to be New Zealand’s largest immigration centre has closed. Before the pandemic, the Beijing office decided half of all temporary visas – about 10,000 a week. Withdrawing visa processing from China ends a long programme of overseas office closures, including in India, South Africa and the Philippines in March. The […]

A vaccination centre at 203 Leith Place was due to open on August 23, but days beforehand a community outbreak of the Delta variant put New Zealand into alert level 4, and the opening was postponed. The Waikato District Health Board’s Covid vaccination programme lead Maree Munro said the centre willl open once the Waikato […]

From 11.59pm on Tuesday September 7, every person in Aotearoa New Zealand over the age of 12 will be required to keep a record of their whereabouts, either by scanning QR codes or signing paper registers Mandatory record-keeping is part of an effort to strengthen contact tracing, in response to low numbers of people who […]

The creative community in Aotearoa is mourning the loss of one of New Zealand’s most influential artists. Billy Apple ONZM, 85, has died overnight. His work was associated with New York and British pop art in the 1960s, collaborating with the likes of Andy Warhol and other pop artists. Te Papa’s chief executive Courtney Johnston […]

There were 20 new community cases reported on Sunday, all in Auckland. 38 people are in Auckland hospitals with Covid-19, including six in intensive care and four on ventilators. The government will decide today whether alert levels outside Auckland will be eased. Case numbers are falling, but the deputy PM says. restrictions won’t be relaxed […]

The knif attack at Countdown at Lynn Mall left seven people injured, five of whom are in hospital. Three of the five hospitalised are in a critical condition, the remaining two are recovering at home. The terrorist behind the attack is Aathil Samsudeen. He was shot dead at the scene of the attack. Aathil Samsudeen […]