Coronavirus

The number of active cases is now 51, a slight increase over last week.

The health authorities say there are no Covid-19 patients left in the hospital.

Vaccinations have continued and more than 81 percent of those 12 years and older have had two jabs.

The death toll of the pandemic is 648, with most fatalities registered during last year's outbreak with the Delta variant.

Travel restrictions have been eased and most pre-pandemic air links have been resumed.

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Her daughter Neve tested positive on Wednesday, she added in the post. Her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive on Sunday.

"Despite best efforts, unfortunately I've joined the rest of my family and tested positive for Covid-19," Ardern wrote on social media.

Ardern has been symptomatic since Friday night, according to a statement, and has "moderate" symptoms. She returned a weak positive Friday night and a clear positive this morning on a RAT test.

Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of Saturday 21 May.

The first public admission of Covid infections highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that has refused to accept international help with vaccination and shut down its borders.

As of March, no cases of Covid-19 have been reported, according to the World Health Organization, and there is no official record of any North Koreans having been vaccinated.

The latest figure, covering the past week, brings the total number of cases since September to 61,049.

The incidence of the virus is slightly higher than a month ago but down sharply since the peak in February.

The death toll remains at 312 - all of them died after the Delta variant entered the community in September.

The official update makes no mention of any Covid-19 patient still in hospital care.

Most pandemic-related restrictions have been lifted, but vaccinated travellers must still take a test two days after arrival.

It comes with a range of other immigration announcements, including sector-specific agreements to support a shift away from low-skilled migrant labour, and a new 'Green list' of 85 hard-to-fill high-skill roles that provides a priority pathway to residency.

Visas for some 20,000 migrants already in the country are also being extended, and there will be new restrictions on students being able to work.

It comes as the ministry reports another 9173 new cases and 14 deaths today.

This time last year, the total of cases reported in New Zealand was 2288, the ministry said.

"New Zealanders' collective response to Covid-19 helped us to keep our case numbers low, especially in that first year when the virus was rampant internationally," it said.

In its latest update today, the ministry said 385 people were in hospital with the virus - compared with 368 people in its previous update yesterday. There were 13 people in ICU.

The number of active cases has dropped sharply and is now 38.

The health authorities say one patient remains in hospital.

The death toll of the pandemic is 648, with most fatalities registered during last year's outbreak with the Delta variant.

Vaccinations have continued and 81 percent of those 12 years and older have had two jabs.

International travel options have been expanded with last week's resumption of flights between Tahiti and New Zealand.

There were 14.9 million excess deaths associated with Covid-19 by the end of 2021, the UN body said on Thursday.

The official count of deaths directly attributable to Covid-19 and reported to WHO in that period, from January 2020 to the end of December 2021, is slightly more than 5.4m.

The WHO's excess mortality figures reflect people who died of Covid-19 as well as those who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including people who could not access healthcare for other conditions when systems were overwhelmed during huge waves of infection.

India's government has rejected the figure, saying the methodology is flawed. Will we ever know how many Indians died in the pandemic?

In November 2020, researchers at the World Mortality Dataset - a global repository that provides updated data on deaths from all causes - asked authorities in India to provide information.

So they've ordered a mass clean-up - an army of people disinfecting thousands of compounds and residential areas aiming to eradicate the virus.

Then China's financial capital will open up, but it will be gradual, tentative, cautious.

The brutal "war" against Omicron has left a scarred city. People as old as 100 were among those who tested positive and were taken to quarantine centres. There were very few exceptions.