Covid 19 coronavirus: No new community cases, seven in managed isolation

A Covid-19 vaccination centre in St Johns, Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton

There are no community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand today, and seven in managed isolation.

The number of active cases in isolation is 32, with four previously reported cases now recovered.

The transtasman travel bubble pause with South Australia, ACT, Tasmania and Victoria will lift at 11.59pm tonight.

The travel pause for Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Queensland is still in place and will be reviewed on Tuesday.

In the case of the Australian traveller in Wellington, officials have confirmed 2,710 people have been identified as contacts, 98 per cent of whom have returned a negative result.

Six remaining people are being actively followed up by contact tracing teams.

Border to open to overseas qualified teachers

The door is being opened to 300 overseas qualified teachers to come to New Zealand under a new class border exception, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced yesterday.

Teachers already employed in New Zealand, but who left the country and were unable to return to their job after the pandemic sparked border closure to almost all non-citizen or resident arrivals may also be eligible, Hipkins said.

"A separate family reunification border exception is being created for the partners and dependent children of teachers who are already in New Zealand on temporary visas.

"A lot of families were separated when border restrictions were put in place to protect New Zealand from Covid-19 and we know this has been hard for them. We're pleased we're at last able to reunite teachers with their families."

Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the border exemption policy yesterday. Photo / Mark Mitchel

Teachers already in New Zealand will be able to request to bring in their partners and dependent children for the duration of their visa.

Criteria are on the ministry's website here.

More than half of sick people not getting tested for Covid

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed New Zealanders chose not to be tested for Covid-19 even when sick, new research shows.

Commissioned by the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, the research surveyed about 1000 people in New Zealand last month.

It showed 64 per cent of people chose not to get tested, despite experiencing cold and flu-like symptoms in the past six months. Despite this, 87 per cent said they were proud of the country's high levels of testing.

Covid-19 symptoms are similar to the flu and can include a new or worsening cough, fever (at least 38C), shortness of breath, a sore throat, sneezing and runny nose, and temporary loss of smell.

Some people may present with less typical symptoms such as only fever, diarrhoea, headache, myalgia (muscle pain), nausea/vomiting, or confusion/irritability.

RCPA president Michael Dray said the statistics were "concerning" considering the highly contagious Delta variant was circulating in communities around the world.