Monthly Archives: February 2022

The Cook Islands is reporting a fourth person who has tested positive for Covid-19.

The case is a New Zealand-based Cook Islander who arrived in Rarotonga for a family funeral on February 15 on-board an Air NZ flight.

Health Ministry Te Marae Ora (TMO) confirmed the case tested positive on Thursday from a sibling who had tested positive in New Zealand.

The case went to the airport to be tested with a rapid antigen test (RAT), returning a positive result.

READ MORE:* Covid-19: Two more cases in Cook Islands as travel companions test positive* Covid-19: Cook Islands records first community case* Covid-19: Traveller tests positive for Omicron after visiting Cook Islands

RYAN ANDERSON/Stuff

A New Zealand-based Cook Islander is the fourth case in the island nation to have tested positive for Covid-19. (File photo)

Health officials have advised the case to return to where they were staying at their family home for a 10-day isolation order with their four household contacts.

Four close contacts at the household have been tested with PCR tests, with only the case testing positive.

The positive case and three of the adults are fully vaccinated, with the young contact with their first vaccine dose.

An additional 16 close contacts have been identified, connected through the family funeral the case attended on Wednesday.

Ryan Anderson/Stuff

The government has announced an extension of suspension travel on outer islands. (File photo)

Health officials said contact tracing has also identified 18 potential close contacts on the Air NZ flight NZ946, with all of them now quarantining.

Two of the 18 close contacts are quarantining in an island outside of Rarotonga, Aitutaki. They have received negative RAT and PCR tests.

Due to the new positive case, the Cook Islands government has announced an extension to their suspension of passenger travel to the rest of the Pa Enua (other islands) to midnight of February 23.

The government has yet to make a decision on passenger travel to Aitutaki.

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Covid-19: Cook Islands records another positive case from New Zealand - Stuff.co.nz

OPINION: If one things clear after the opening round of Super Rugby Pacific, its that the Kiwi teams are almost certainly going to lead the way.

A trans-Tasman clash wasnt even required to paint the picture, rather just a look at the contrasting derby matches on offer to kickoff the competition.

Its no huge surprise, either. Not after Australian sides won just two of 25 matches in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman a year ago, and were on the wrong end of a bunch of lopsided defeats.

Indeed, border issues forcing a diet of derby matches until late April are likely just delaying the inevitable roasting of the Aussie franchises.

READ MORE:* Hurricanes coach Jason Holland rues missed chances against clinical Crusaders* Crusaders pivot Fergus Burke passes the biggest test of his career * Leicester Fainga'anuku bags three tries as Crusaders beat luckless Hurricanes* Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea questions four-hour bus trips for Super Rugby Pacific* Crusaders' pre-season stutters offer rivals hope for Super Rugby Pacific

They couldnt handle the tempo the New Zealand sides play with last year, and early signs are they wont when they go head-to-head in the second half of the regular season.

The Brumbies last-ditch 29-23 win over the Force in Canberra on Sunday at least featured an entertaining conclusion, but the two other matches across the ditch were forgettable.

Those who watched the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 42-32 in Dunedin on Saturday, and stayed tuned to their televisions for the dour Reds-Rebels fixture, both deserve a medal and would have noted the gulf in quality.

Martin Hunter/Photosport

Crusaders wing Leicester Fainga'anuku celebrates his third try against the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Saturday night.

Admittedly, heavy rain pelted Brisbane for the second half of the match, won 23-5 by the Reds, making for a miserable spectacle, but there was no such excuse earlier in the match.

Plus, a boggy ground in Queenstown, the result of a downpour ahead of kickoff on Saturday, didnt stop the Chiefs and Highlanders playing an up-tempo game of considerably higher quality.

Its only one week, but for the competitions sake, lets hope the Australians get up to speed come April.

Joe Allison/Getty Images

Hurricanes No 8 Ardie Savea on the charge against the Crusaders in Dunedin on Saturday night.

Some Hurricanes fans were fuming after their side had three tries disallowed against the Crusaders, but coach Jason Holland was not.

Fair enough, too. Referee Brendon Pickerill and TMO Mike Fraser were bang on each time, including when Fraser spied a Ben May knock-on, which rubbed out a long-range Ardie Savea try.

Savea had earlier been well held up by some desperate goal-line defence, while hooker Asafo Aumua had a try scratched for a double movement.

So obvious was Aumuas infringement, the only complaint anyone should have is Pickerill, who was in perfect position to see the rake's left knee hit the deck metres short of the line, didnt pick up on it in real time.

Holland, having watched his side trail 42-18 with nine minutes to play, before scoring two late tries to add some respectability to the final score, was, rightfully, more peeved with his teams lack of execution.

Phil Walter/Getty Images

Chiefs lock Brodie Retallick tackles Highlanders midfielder Scott Gregory in Queenstown on Saturday.

The sight of Brodie Guzzler Retallick making big plays in his first game for the Chiefs since 2019 ought to fill their fan base with confidence.

Retallicks sublime offload to set up Emoni Narawas second half try highlighted the Chiefs 26-16 win against the sloppy Highlanders.

A year after making the Super Rugby Aotaroa final, the Chiefs, armed with Retallick, a healthy Sam Cane, and Josh Ioane at first five-eighth, sure look set to again seriously challenge for the title this year.

As bad as the Highlanders were, they need not panic, nor should any team beaten in round one, not in a competition in which eight of the 12 teams make the playoffs.

Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

The Waratahs celebrate their drought-snapping win against the Fijian Drua in Sydney on Friday.

The Waratahs have done it, theyve finally won a game.

It took a first-up date with newcomers Fijian Drua, but 538 days after their last win, they ended their miserable run with a 40-10 win in the Super Rugby Pacific opener.

Theyll take it, but shouldnt get carried away after winning a match which made it clear just how difficult 2022 will be for the Drua and Moana Pasifika.

Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

Fijian Drua Vilive Miramira carts the ball into contact against the Waratahs in Sydney in the opening Super Rugby Pacific match on Friday.

The inaccurate Drua were comprehensively outplayed by far the worst franchise in 2021, highlighted by their poor handling and a shaky set piece.

Well likely get our first proper look at the latter next weekend, when they play the Chiefs in Dunedin.

Waratahs 40 (Will Harris try 13min, Dave Porecki try 35min, Lalakai Foketi try 41min, Angus Bell try 52min, Jake Gordon try 57min; Ben Donaldson 3 pen, 3 con) Fijian Drua 10 (Nemani Nagusa try 65min; Baden Kerr pen, con). HT: 21-3

Chiefs 26 (Sam Cane try 17min, Pita Gus Sowakula try 39min, Emoni Narawa try 48min; Josh Ioane 2 pen, con, Bryn Gatland pen) Highlanders 16 (Daniel Lienert-Brown try 69min; Mitch Hunt 3 pen, con). HT: 18-6

Crusaders 42 (Leicester Faingaanuku tries 8min, 11min, 51min, penalty try 65min, Shilo Klein try 69min Fergus Burke 2 con, 3 pen, Simon Hickey con) Hurricanes 32 (Ruben Love try 28min, Bailyn Sullivan try 68min, Jordie Barrett try 75min, Jackson Garden-Bachop try 79min Jordie Barrett 2 con, 2 pen, Garden-Bachop con). HT: 15-13

Reds 23 (Taniela Tupou try 14min, Harry Wilson try 49min, Jock Campbell try 80min; James OConnor 2 pen, con) Rebels 5 (Brad Wilkin try 34min). HT: 13-5

Brumbies 29 (Andy Muirhead try 18min, Folau Faingaa try 47min, Rory Scott try 58min, Lachlan Lonergan try 79min; Noah Lolesio 3 con, pen) Western Force 23 (Toni Pulu try 43min, Jake McIntyre try 76min; Ian Prior 3 pen, con, McIntyre con). HT: 10-9.

Blues v Moana Pasifika postponed

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Super Rugby talking points: New Zealand sides poised to lead the charge - Stuff.co.nz

ANALYSIS: As the anti-mandate crowd continued to mill around Parliament, leaving the national flag strewn on the forecourt, some scumbags threw human waste at the police who had earlier erected barricades limiting the spread of the protest-turned-occupation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was inside the Beehive, chairing cabinet, before giving a timeline for the expected peak of Omicron and the relaxing of restrictions something the occupiers all claimed to want.

As with any protest, there are a mixture of passionate, basically ordinary people, there for a good time, and the extreme, deluded or unhinged. And the latter elements have given a PR gift to the Government. After spending two weeks trying to prove that they werent extremists or collection of ferals (to use the words of Speaker Trevor Mallard), some of them literally threw human waste at the cops.

Back in the Beehive Theatrette, there was a reprieve from the ever-present slightly manic and expectant energy outside. The Government expects that the peak of Omicron based on the other countries will be in the next three to six weeks, and after coming off the peak, restrictions including vaccine certificates, mandates and gathering limits will be eased.

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A police officer looks on at the Parliament occupation where many protesters have discarded their New Zealand flags at the picket line.

READ MORE:* National calls for a phasing out of vaccine requirements, as protests continue* Covid-19 NZ: Jacinda Ardern says mandates will wind down after Omicron peak* When will the Parliament protest, and mandates, end?

The real question that protesters want to know is when. The prime minister wouldn't answer that on the basis that it is still unclear how long it will be until case numbers really come down.

Ardern waited until well into her press conference on Monday to really hit upon the key point that this whole exercise the vaccine mandates, vaccine certificates, contact tracing has really all been to prepare New Zealand for this point.

In answering a question about whether Omicron was more serious than the flu, the prime minister pointed out that the problem is not the population-wide severity, it is people getting it all at once.

I think the issue is that Covid is in a pandemic state ... so that's where the real issue lies, making sure that you're able to properly manage that, because if you're overwhelmed, people who otherwise might be able to be cared for properly through treatment miss out on that because of the pressure in the system, she said.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson hold a post-cabinet press conference in the Beehive at Parliament.

Going back to the start of 2020 when Covid-19 first arrived in New Zealand, this was always the crux of the policy problem. How do you slow the spread so that hospitals aren't overwhelmed? Elimination stopped New Zealand from having to confront that problem for nearly two years.

About half an hour before the press conference, National Party leader Christopher Luxon gave his own speech in which he called for almost exactly the same thing the prime minister announced.

As with the Prime Minister, he declined to put an exact timeframe on when this should happen, but that it should be done progressively.

Abigail Dougherty/Stuff

National leader Chris Luxon tried to emphasis a division within New Zealand during his speech on Monday.

It was part of a speech trying to point to New Zealand as divided and sheeting that division home to Labour but over various issues.

Renters versus landlords. Business owners versus workers. Farmers versus cities. Kiwis at home versus those stuck abroad. The vaccinated versus the unvaccinated, Luxon said.

In essence, Luxon was trying to use the occupation as a way of mounting a broader critique. The problem is that on the issue du jour the protests he holds virtually the same public view that the Prime Minister does.

That is, National is a pro-vaccination Party, it also doesn't believe in engaging with lawbreaking protesters and thinks vaccine mandates should be scrapped after the Omicron peak.

The fact remains that a very healthy majority of the country opposes the protests, and in a political sense, polling is pretty much business-as-usual, with Labour ahead right now. There isnt much that points to a deeper and broader division beyond the usual left-right divide.

Up to, now it's all gone the protesters way: growth in numbers, some sympathy for the cause and building a little community. Now that the barricades have started to be erected, and the reality of maintaining the occupations momentum and numbers will set in.

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Occupiers give Government a filthy PR boost as Labour and National agree on vaccine mandate strategy - Stuff.co.nz

Refugee advocates have hailed news of an "in principle" agreement to resettle 150 refugees a year in New Zealand from Australia's offshore detention regime.

Refugee Mostafa "Moz" Azimitabar, who spent six years in detention at Melbourne's The Park Hotel, called the update, which emerged from Senate estimates on Monday night, a "historical moment".

The New Zealand offer, which has been on the table for several years, has been subject to multiple rounds of ministerial negotiations as Australia seeks to ensure refugees won't have access to a so-called "backdoor" to eventually live in Australia.

Department of Home Affairs deputy secretary of strategy and resilience Marc Ablong told Monday night's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Senate estimates hearing that the final round of talks was just weeks away "on the New Zealand side".

"They have to take the matter to their cabinet, so it'll have to go through the New Zealand cabinet process before they come to us with their final position," he said, before adding that both governments would be considering the matter at "roughly the same time".

Department of Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo said it was "fair to say" an in principle agreement had been reached.

"The Australian government has made it clear, subject to the satisfaction of both parties and the resolution of a number of issues," he said, in response to a question from Victorian Labor Senator Raff Ciccone.

Mr Pezzullo echoed concerns previously raised by Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews and other Morrison government ministers that settling in New Zealand could provide a "backdoor" into Australia through a special-purpose visa allowing "long-duration residency".

"There has to be, to satisfy the Australian government's policy, some kind of ironclad or, if not quite ironclad, firm blocking," he said.

The department secretary said the Australian government was looking for an "early resolution" to the matter but refused to define a timeframe.

"We would be reluctant to say 'this year', because I think we've said that before, and that was last year," he said.

"The power of people is stronger than politicians. The government couldn't resist this powerful pressure," he said, according to Amnesty International.

"Our consistency made this happen."

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'In principle' agreement to resettle 150 refugees a year in NZ hailed as 'historical moment' - 9News

Staff in a processing plant at New Zealand King Salmon are using rapid antigen tests after positive cases of Omicron in the factory, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says.

On Wednesday, 15 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Te Tauihu (the top of the south).

In its daily update, the Ministry of Health announced a further 1160 cases nationally.

Bloomfield said New Zealand King Salmon in Nelson was continuing to operate despite cases in a processing plant, in keeping with the countrys shift to phase two of the response.

READ MORE:* Covid-19: Third Nelson school reports Covid case* Covid-19: Nelson-Marlborough records nine new Omicron cases* Covid-19 NZ: Jacinda Ardern moves New Zealand into phase 2 of Omicron response, shrinking isolation period

Scott Hammond/Stuff

The Nelson plant will continue to operate, with workers using rapid antigen tests.

All had Rapid Antigen Tests and theyre going to be using the RATs to allow them to keep operating.

Under phase two, critical workers exposed to the virus can continue working while using RATs to test for the virus.

It comes after nine cases were announced in Nelson-Marlborough on Tuesday, and as three schools in Nelson Victory Primary School, St Josephs Primary School and Nayland College have all had cases, forcing close-contact students and staff to isolate.

There had also been positive presentations at the Nelson Hospital emergency department.

Anyone with symptoms is being urged to get a test.

The Nelson Marlborough community did a fantastic job in Phase One of stamping out Omicron, said Nelson Marlborough Healths medical officer of health Dr Stephen Bridgman.

This delayed the spread of infection in the community meaning more people were able to get boosted and prepared.

We know that we cannot stop Omicron. The escalation of cases in Nelson over the past two days shows how quickly it can spread and how disruptive it can be to workplaces and schools. It also shows how prepared education and workplaces are in supporting employees, students and communities through Omicron.

On Wednesday the country moved to phase two in the Omicron response plan.

That means that isolation periods have reduced to 10 days for positive cases and household contacts, and seven days for close contacts.

Under phase two, isolation periods for people with Covid will reduce to 10 days, while isolation for close contracts will drop to seven days.

Contact tracing will also change, with positive cases required to fill out an online form to identify high-risk exposure events.

New Zealand King Salmon sustainability and stakeholder manager Paul McIntyre said staff who had tested positive had been on the night shift on Monday.

Of those who tested positive, there were 66 close contacts, all who were self-isolating at home.

Previously, Bloomfield had said there were 250 close contacts at New Zealand King Salmon.

McIntyre said all relevant staff had been tested, and all staff in the processing plant had access to RAT kits.

Nelson Zealand King Salmon had been designated a critical business by the Government, which allowed double-vaccinated asymptomatic close contacts to return to work following a negative RAT test.

Staff would be paid sick-leave if they tested positive for Covid-19 if they had sick-leave available.

Our policy is that anyone who is awaiting a PCR test are to self-isolate until the results of the test is known.

Exports to China had been stopped as soon as they knew about the cases. Otherwise they were supplying to all other markets.

McIntyre said their primary concern was to keep team members safe in this emerging situation.

We are working closely with the NMDHB and Ministry of Health to ensure the correct protocols and processes are being followed to avoid any spread in the community.

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The Saxton Fields testing station in Nelson.

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Positive cases in New Zealand King Salmon processing plant - Stuff.co.nz