Category Archives: New Zealand

More than half the country have now had a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with tens of thousands getting a jab every day. But those numbers dont tell the full story. Kate Newton and Henry Cooke dig into the roll-out.

We have enough vaccines.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern isnt releasing details until Thursday, but was happy to say earlier in the week that a looming supply problem caused by huge demand for vaccines had been sorted. On Wednesday, new numbers showed the stockpile of jabs kept in reserve had also recovered.

RYAN ANDERSON/Stuff

A drive-through vaccination clinic.

But as our vaccine roll-out races ahead, massive inequities remain both across regions and ethnicities. And even with a world-beating speed, New Zealand remains behind much of the rest of the developed world.

Here's a deep look into the vaccine roll-out across New Zealand, and how it compares with the rest of the world.

Lets get these overall numbers out of the way if youre looking for how this compares with other countries, scroll down.

At midnight on Tuesday 2.7 million Kiwis have had at least one jab.

READ MORE:* Covid 19: Novavax expected to be first Covid-19 booster vaccine in New Zealand* Covid-19: The 1pm update review - where some vaccines fell off the back of a truck* Covid-19 NZ: Government 'finalising arrangements' for extra vaccines to maintain fast pace through September

Thats just over half the entire country: 52 per cent. But we have to remember that about 15 per cent of the country are aged under 12, and wont get the vaccine any time soon. So if we look at the 4.4 million people aged 12 or over, 61 per cent have got a single jab.

However, one jab gives only partial protection. New Zealand is focusing on these first jabs, while leaving a six-week gap before second jabs. The Government has only been giving out about half as many second jabs every day.

Just 1.4 million Kiwis have had both jabs and are considered fully protected. Thats 32 per cent of that 12+ population or 27 per cent of the entire population.

New Zealands vaccination story varies wildly based on where you live.

Three-quarters of those aged 12+ have had a jab in Nelson Marlborough, the best-performing district health board (DHB). For context thats a vaccination rate better than the United States.

Its closely followed by the Southern DHB who has also cracked 70 per cent.

But those rates compare with just over half of the 12+ population for Taranaki, the worst-performing DHB.

But the South Islands good fortune has not come to its major centre: Canterbury is the worst-performing of New Zealands three main cities on first doses, with 56 per cent of its population jabbed. Wellingtons DHBs are on top, with over two thirds (68 per cent) receiving at least one dose. Auckland is in the middle with 63.8 per cent of the 12+ population having had a jab so not far off the national rate.

Things are a bit different when it comes to second doses, which provide fuller protection.

Once again Taranaki is in last place, with 23 per cent of its 12+ population double-dosed. And again Nelson Marlborough are on top with 42 per cent of its 12+ population double-dosed.

Canterbury is again the worst of the main centres, with just 27 per cent fully protected, but Wellingtons DHBs are not far ahead of them with just 28 per cent of its 12+ population fully protected. Aucklands DHBs are a bit ahead of the national curve, with 33 per cent of its 12+ population double-dosed.

Funnily enough, Taranaki has generally been meeting its own self-set plans. But as of this week there are no more plans: The Ministry of Health says the unprecedented demand because of the outbreak means the plans are of no more use, and will not return until October.

New Zealands speed has dropped slightly from the past few weeks, when we were going faster than most of the world ever managed.

It is still going very fast, however, with over half a million doses doled out over the week to Tuesday. At 74,000 doses a day about 1.5 per cent of the country have been getting a jab every single day.

Thats faster than Australia who are sitting at about 1.1 per cent and rivals Korea and Japan at their peaks, while easily outstripping the peak rate of other Western nations. But it is a (slight) drop-off from heights of 1.6 per cent reached the week prior.

We know that this rate won't be maintained forever, because eventually New Zealand will run out of people who are motivated to get the vaccine and run into those who aren't so keen. But as a point of illustration, if that pace was maintained, the entire roll-out would be finished on November 9. Before that, 80 per cent of the 12+ population would have had a first jab by September 23, 90 per cent by October 1, and 100 per cent by October 10.

New Zealand is no longer at the bottom of the developed world. But its not far from it.

With the countrys huge first dose campaign, the Government has now partially protected more of its population than several other nations, including Australia and Poland. The lead is slight, however: 52 per cent of our entire population has at least one jab, compared with 51% of Australia. If the vaccine roll-out keeps going at its current speed, we will likely pass several other nations on this statistic in the next week or so, including the United States.

Yet on second doses, we remain behind every country in the OECD other than Costa Rica.

You can blend these two figures to get a slightly better idea of how our overall vaccine roll-out is going compared with other nations, by looking at the overall number of doses doled out per 100 people.

New Zealand remains behind Australia on this measure, with about 79 doses per 100 people compared with 82 in Australia. And while we may be ahead of countries like Mexico, were far behind the countries we traditionally compare ourselves with such as Canada, the UK, the USA, and the EU, who have all doled out more than 100 doses per 100 people.

New Zealands vaccination campaign was staged by priority groups, with healthy young people intended to get the vaccine last.

The Government set up four different priority groups to manage this, with the first (border workers) being the most important and the last (the general population) the least.

But while the Government has basically vaccinated everyone connected to the border, it hasnt finished vaccinating its two other priority groups, yet is marching ahead with the general population.

Lets go through each of these in turn.

Group 1 border workers does appear to be mostly complete. The Government estimated there were 50,000 of these people earlier this year, but there was clearly more: 64,000 have now had a first jab, while 60,000 of them have had their second.

Group 2 is frontline health professionals and people in rest homes. The Government estimated there was 480,000 of these people, but again this must have been an undercount: 552,000 have had at least a first dose, while 456,000 have had a second. If we assume that the actual ceiling for this group is 550,000, that still leaves 100,000 frontline workers or rest home residents with only partial protection.

But the real gap is in group 3, an amorphous group that takes in everyone aged 65 or over and everyone with a health condition that could make a Covid-19 infection a particularly bad time, from pregnancy to asthma.

The actual size of this group is very tricky to work out: We know there is 750,000 people aged 65 or over, and then the Ministry of Health estimate there is anywhere between 700,000 and 1.2 million people with a health condition that makes them eligible.

But it is clear that not all in this vulnerable group are protected, and that they are falling behind the general population who are vaccinating at pace.

Just 689,000 people in group 3 have had at least one dose, while 524,000 have had both. Given we know the group has to be at least 750,000 just to cover the over-65s this suggests many vulnerable people are unprotected.

And group 4 - the general population under-65 are racing ahead of them. A total of 1.36m in group 4 have had a first jab, and 331,000 have had a second.

Stuff has asked the Ministry of Health for an explanation of group 3s laggardly pace. Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins has noted in earlier weeks that many people technically eligible for group 3 may just be saying they are in group 4 when turning up for a jab.

Its also worth noting that when group 3 were first allowed to book vaccines, there were far fewer slots than there are now meaning many people booked a first jab for late-September or October. Since then a huge slew of clinics has opened up, meaning those in group 4 have often been able to just get a walk-in vaccine, or book an appointment for the next day.

Another lens we can look at for vulnerability is ethnicity, particularly as we know Mori are far more likely to be hospitalised and die if they are infected with Covid-19.

Mori continue to lag the general population while close to a third of the 12+ population (32 per cent) is now fully protected, just 21 per cent of Mori are. Around four in ten Mori have had a first dose, compared to six in ten of the full population.

Some of this is explainable by age structure, as Mori people are typically younger and thus werent eligible for the vaccine as early as older populations. But not all of it: Mori aged 20-34 are about half as likely as the rest of the population to have had a first or second jab.

See the original post here:

Covid-19: New Zealand's vaccine roll-out explained in 10 charts, and compared with the rest of the world - Stuff.co.nz

Issued on: 08/09/2021 - 11:06

London (AFP)

England will play home Test series against world champions New Zealand and South Africa in 2022, cricket chiefs announced on Wednesday, unveiling a packed schedule.

Joe Root's Test team will begin their home summer with a three-match series against New Zealand, starting at Lord's on June 2, before games at Trent Bridge and Headingley.

The Black Caps beat England 1-0 in a two-match series in June before defeating India in Southampton to win the first-ever World Test Championship final.

England will also host South Africa for a three-Test series, with the first match starting at Lord's on August 17 before games at Edgbaston and the Oval.

India, who are currently touring England, return for a three-match Twenty20 series and three one-day internationals in July.

South Africa kick off their tour with three ODIs and three T20 matches later in July before the start of the Test series the following month.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison said: "It has been a scintillating summer of cricket and so good to see crowds back packing out venues later this summer.

"For next summer, I am pleased to be able to confirm three high-quality men's international touring teams for 2022."

Root's side currently trail India 2-1 with one match remaining in this year's five-match Test series. The final match starts at Old Trafford on Friday.

2021 AFP

Read this article:

England to host New Zealand, South Africa for Tests in 2022 - FRANCE 24

New Zealand has recorded 75 new cases of Covid-19, a bounce upward after two days of seeing cases decline.

The director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said on Tuesday the increase was not unexpected and noted that during New Zealands previous outbreak, case numbers did move up and down somewhat day-to-day, while still tracking down overall.

Bloomfield said that the governments modelling gave 90% certainty that the reproductive rate or average number of new people that each case infected was still below one, indicating that the number of cases will continue to decline, and we are successfully breaking the chains of transmission.

The current outbreak is now at 687 cases total. Of the 75 new cases, one was in Wellington and the remainder in Auckland. Thirty-two people are currently hospitalised in Auckland, eight of whom are in intensive care, and three of whom are on ventilators. Contact tracers have identified 34,832 contacts in the outbreak so far.

Auckland, the centre of the outbreak, and the regions north of the city remain in a level 4 lockdown the highest level of restriction in New Zealand. The rest of the country moved into level 3 on Wednesday , which allows more businesses, such as takeaway restaurants, to open while practicing social distancing.

As the outbreak continues, New Zealand is racing to vaccinate its population. On Wednesday the country hit a new milestone, with just over 50% of its eligible population people aged over 12 - having had at least one shot. So far, 1.21 million of those are fully vaccinated, or 27% of the eligible population.

As of today, vaccination appointments are open to all people aged 12 and over. Until now, New Zealand had been staggering its vaccine rollout by age group.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins also announced that the government would pause access to its Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) system the government-managed quarantine facilities that all those re-entering the country must pass through.

Spaces in MIQ are allocated using a voucher system that overseas New Zealanders must book in advance. Those vouchers are hotly in-demand, and spaces are typically snapped up within moments of release.

While people who have already booked spaces will still be able to enter the country, the pause means no additional vouchers will be released until further notice. New Zealanders based overseas have struggled for months to secure spots, with some reporting it is forcing people to violate visa conditions, and causing extreme psychological distress.

I do acknowledge its difficult when families are being separated, but I also just want to say and I do want to reiterate this: people do have to adjust your expectations a little bit at the moment, Hipkins said.

The ability to travel for family events like weddings and birthdays is a lot more restricted in the global pandemic than it would be in normal times, and so people need to be realistic about that, he added.

Read the original:

New Zealand records 75 cases after two days of falls - The Guardian

New Zealand has recorded its warmest ever winter, and scientists say that climate change is driving temperatures ever higher.

For the three months through to the end of August 2021, the average temperature was 9.8C, according to New Zealands National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

The figure was 1.3C above the long-term average and 0.2C higher than the previous record posted in 2020. Scientists have been keeping records since 1909, but most of the warmest winters have been recent.

Nava Fedaeff, a meteorologist at the institute, said that on top of a background of global warming, this year there were more warm winds than usual from the north and warmer sea temperatures.

She said the underlying warming trend could be tracked through carbon dioxide concentration, which had increased in New Zealand from 320 parts per million 50 years ago to about 412 parts per million today.

Fedaeff said snowfall at lower elevations was well below average this winter as it was often replaced with rain, which could make for lower river levels later in the year because there would be less snowmelt. That could impact irrigation for farms, she said.

There were also more extreme weather events, Fedaeff said, including severe flooding in some places and dry spells in others.

Prof James Renwick, a climate scientist at the Victoria University of Wellington, said that in the short term at least, some New Zealand farmers with cow or sheep herds might benefit from a longer grass-growing season.

But he said the changes were also putting pressure on natural ecosystems and that over time more species would face extinction. It was imperative for humans to slow the rate of greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

If we dont get on top of warming soon, there is going to be grief for large sections of the world.

Renwick said New Zealand had talked a lot about climate change but had so far done little to curb its emissions. But he said there were now good government policies in place, including a pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2050.

He said there were plenty of natural resources like wind, sun and water that could provide renewable power for the nations energy needs.

New Zealand could become world-leading in green energy and a green economy.

Read the original here:

New Zealand records its warmest ever winter with average temperature of 9.8C - The Guardian

Michael Steele/Getty Images

Former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen.

Sir Steve Hansen has shot down suggestions the proposed new World 12s competition could hurt New Zealand Rugby, claiming it could even stop key players departing on Japanese sabbaticals.

The former All Blacks coach is an ambassador for the freshly announced 12-a-side competition, which is being touted as the rugby equivalent of the IPL, and is set to launch with a mens tournament in England next year, followed by the inaugural womens tournament in 2023.

New Zealand Rugby plan to work alongside World Rugby in the coming days to get to terms with the proposed competition but, in a statement, general manager of professional rugby and high performance Chris Lendrum made it clear they would not support any competition that impacts domestic rugby, among other factors.

However, Hansen was quick to dismiss the suggestion the proposed competition could hurt the sport in New Zealand, from NPC level to the All Blacks.

READ MORE:* Why Steve Hansen believes World 12s will be irresistible* Steve Tew and Steve Hansen in World 12s rugby evolution * Mark Reason: It's to our eternal shame neglected Ngani Laumape has gone into exile * Ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says NZ Rugby don't owe Aussies anything

No, I dont believe so. The people that are going to be going, the majority are going to be world-class players playing Super Rugby and international rugby, he told Stuff.

There is a lot of negotiating to go on...its not about trying to have a rebel competition, its about trying to have something that fits in for all.

Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, left, and former New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew are both involved in World 12s, Hansen as an ambassador, and Tew as a non-executive director.

Using All Blacks Damian McKenzie and Patrick Tuipulotu as examples, two players who are taking Japanese sabbaticals and will miss Super Rugby next year, Hansen said World 12s could result in players staying put.

If these two guys were to be selected in a 12s team, the money would be good enough for them not to have to go away, leave New Zealand, leave their family, leave their franchises. So, I think there are benefits for the domestic game, as well.

World 12s is targetting 192 players for eight franchises. They will play an abbreviated format of the game in teams involving six forwards and six backs, contesting 30-minute matches, with new rules aimed at improving problem areas such as the breakdown and scrum.

It has a goal of generating around $500 million over its first five years, handsomely rewarding all those involved.

ALL BLACKS

'It protects us all'. All Blacks show the vaccination process.

Its that money, and the prospect of rubbing shoulders with the best players in the world, which Hansen believes will make the best players in the world come running.

I think anyone who gets asked will be pretty keen to go, Hansen said, maintaining the new concept would not be gimmicky, and 15s rugby would always be king.

Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Sir Steve Hansen believes World 12s could stop players like All Black Damian McKenzie taking up sabbaticals in Japan.

Administrators will have to listen. It's a really good catalyst to try and get a global season, so we can fit things in properly, and give the players a good rest. Player well-being has been something we've talked a lot about within this group, and leading up to this so far, that's certainly going to be one of the high priorities.

The prospect of finally getting a global season across the line was one factor behind Hansen jumping on board with the concept, as was freshening up the game he believes has lost its way.

Much of that comes down to the way its being officiated, with overcomplicated rules making life difficult for referees, he said.

We need to change what were doing. The officiating of the game is so complex that were not getting any consistency.

We still cant give a coach, a fan, a player one sheet of paper that says this is what the three officials are going to do today. We cant do that. To me, thats diabolical. We keep adding to the rule book, and we should be taking away and making it a simpler game.

World 12s will largely follow the laws of 15s, but with these adaptations:

12 players in a team six forwards and six backs

15-minute halves

Conversions will be drop goals only

Only one scrum reset, followed by a free kick

Scrum infringements are penalised by a differential penalty (a penalty that cannot be kicked at goal)

Here is the original post:

Steve Hansen shoots down suggestion World 12s could hurt New Zealand Rugby - Stuff.co.nz

Instead, the US rewarded supporters of the Iraq War with free trade agreements with Australia and Singapore at the top of the list.

At the time, the differences over Iraq made it seem that any improvement New Zealand-US relations had again stalled.

The nuclear ship issue was once again seen as the main roadblock to the full restoration of ties.

The issue gained particular prominence in 2004 when Don Brash, then the National Party leader, was noted by officials as saying the ban would be "gone by lunchtime" under a future National-led government.

But there were advantages to the diametrically opposed positions over Iraq.

With the US position seemingly crystal clear, New Zealand's wider foreign policy agenda was largely freed up for other matters.

The focus moved to negotiating free trade agreements with other countries following a 2001 model agreement with Singapore and amidst World Trade Organization's ill-fated Doha round of negotiations.

New Zealand's free-trade efforts first bore fruit in 2005 when an agreement was signed with Thailand.

Even more interesting was an agreement signed later that year as a grouping of Pacific Rim countries called the "P4".

The agreement with Brunei, Chile and Singapore was the genesis for what ultimately became the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

But New Zealand's biggest prize came in 2008, when it became the first Western country to sign a free trade agreement with China which rapidly became New Zealand's biggest trading partner.

In hindsight, the fallout from the 9/11 attacks and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq did New Zealand foreign policymakers a favour.

Afghanistan gave New Zealand an opening to show the US what it had to offer, while Iraq clearly showed New Zealand the limits of that engagement.

Without Iraq, New Zealand might have continued to put even more effort into repairing its US relationship which could have prevented it from moving on to a more diversified trade focus.

But what is even more remarkable is that New Zealand ultimately ended up almost having its cake and eating it too.

Against the backdrop of New Zealand's commitment in Afghanistan, but also with the simple passage of time, the nuclear ship issue that had once seemed so central essentially faded into the background.

Significantly, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called New Zealand an ally in 2008, and diplomatic cables from Wikileaks revealed that US quietly resumed full intelligence sharing with New Zealand in 2009.

New Zealand's defence ties with the US have also largely been restored. Since 2014, New Zealand ships have again fully participated in US-led 'Rim of the Pacific' military exercises.

And in 2016, New Zealand even came within a whisker of securing a free trade deal with the US as part of the CPTPP until Donald Trump withdrew from the arrangement shortly after taking office.

Despite this setback, it is probably only a matter of time until New Zealand concludes a free trade deal of some kind that involves the US.

After all, the US is now taking a much greater interest in New Zealand and its neighbourhood as part of its Indo-Pacific vision that seeks to challenge China's perceived dominance.

Ultimately, the September 11 attacks triggered a chain of unforeseen actions and decisions.

The impact of the tragedy changed the course of US foreign policy.

It changed the trajectory of New Zealand's foreign policy too.

Democracy Project

Geoffrey Miller is the Democracy Projects international analyst and writes on current New Zealand foreign policy and related geopolitical issues. He has lived in Germany and the Middle East and is a fluent speaker of German and Arabic.

Read this article:

9/11 anniversary: How the attacks changed New Zealand's foreign policy - Newshub

Jacinda Ardern used very specific language in her description of the terrorist attack in Auckland last week:

It was carried out by an individual not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity but an individual person who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here, by anyone, by any community.

The New Zealand prime ministers message was clear our security will not benefit from vilifying a religion or a religious community.

At the same time, Ardern showed that the way Aotearoa New Zealand now talks about terrorism and counter-terrorism aligns with its objectives of enhancing social cohesion and inclusion.

However, there is a risk that such neutral or generalised language might obscure important truths and even make the job of combating terrorism harder.

Before the 2019 Christchurch attacks, counter-terrorism was not a major public concern. But the events of March 15 shifted the focus to national security and raised our collective consciousness about Muslims and Islam.

This was reflected in the 44 recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch attack, in various new government policies and institutions, and in a growing concern with social cohesion.

Read more: New Zealand's latest terror attack shows why ISIS is harder to defeat online than on the battlefield

Similarly, the Ministry for Social Development commissioned a rapid evidence review of social inclusion after the Christchurch terrorist attack. Currently available for public review, it proposes six ways to help make New Zealand more socially cohesive.

By describing the Auckland terrorist attack the way she did, Ardern sought to reinforce a vision of Aotearoa New Zealand as a place where all people can feel safe, have equal access to opportunities and do not experience discrimination.

In the wake of March 15, then, we can see how the official discourse on counter-terrorism has become more closely linked with concepts of social cohesion and inclusion.

Appearing before parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee recently, Security Intelligence Service (SIS) director-general Rebecca Kitteridge noted a deliberate change in her organisations counter-terrorism language.

A new terrorism framework has done away with the term Islamist extremist terrorism in favour of categorising terrorist acts as being violent extremism motivated by political beliefs, identity, faith or a single issue.

Adapted from a framework developed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the new terminology focuses on ideology and should make specific communities feel less securitised, according to Kitteridge.

Read more: New Zealand needs to go beyond fast-tracking counter-terrorism laws to reduce the risk of future attacks

But while these changes appear to support social inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand, we should also ask how counter-terrorism is served by describing the Auckland attack as faith-motivated violent extremism rather than radical Islamist terrorism.

The 2020 SIS annual report included a fifth category in the framework white identity extremism (WIE).

Given the ideological profile of the Christchurch terrorist, its not surprising the SIS received numerous leads about possible WIE threats after March 15. But WIE is not a separate category in the latest framework. It is now included in the identity-motivated category of violent extremism.

How do we begin to understand the racism and radicalisation of the Christchurch terrorist without acknowledging his identity as a white supremacist?

Europe has also trialled different terms to describe terrorist threats. The European Union (EU) law enforcement agency Europol used Islamist terrorism between 2006 and 2010, then moved to religiously inspired terrorism between 2011 and 2014.

Since 2015 it has employed jihadist terrorism, ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism, left-wing and anarchist terrorism, right-wing terrorism and single-issue terrorism.

Read more: The Christchurch commissions call to improve social cohesion is its hardest and most important recommendation

The 2020 EU report on terrorism carefully defines jihadist terrorism as a violent sub-current of Salafism (a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam) that legitimises violence against non-Muslims by drawing on classical Islamic doctrines of jihad, and against Muslims by using takfir (an act of declaring Muslims apostates or infidels).

The term was widely used in the wake of Islamic States territorial successes in Iraq and Syria in 2014, and in relation to Islamic State-inspired terrorism in Paris (November 2015), Nice (July 2016), Brussels (March 2016) and the Manchester Arena (May 2017).

On the face of it, the Christchurch and Auckland terrorist attacks share similarities, such as the role of online radicalisation and that both terrorists were lone actors.

But does it serve our understanding of the terrorist threat to conflate the actions of a white supremacy extremist and a radical Islamist extremist?

Its true that terminology needs to adapt to changes in the political environment. What was fit for purpose before the Christchurch attack is not necessarily relevant today.

New terminology, however, does not replace the need for public education and knowledge. Nor should we assume well-informed New Zealanders cannot distinguish between a religion and an ideological construct simply because some populist politicians conflate Islam and radical Islamism.

Read more: Treating NZs far right groups as terrorist organisations could make monitoring extremists even harder

The prime ministers description of the Auckland attacker as an aberrant individual influenced by a foreign and unacceptable ideology supports ideas of social inclusion.

This is particularly important at a time when populist political movements present Islam as a civilisational threat. Social inclusion and counter-terrorism both foster a more resilient and safe Aotearoa New Zealand.

But there are dangers in conflating the two concepts, and we should not shy away from specifically and accurately naming terrorists for who they are and what they stand for.

Read the original post:

Social inclusion is important in Aotearoa New Zealand but so is speaking honestly about terrorism - The Conversation AU

While were all rightly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic at the moment, the SARS-CoV-2 virus isnt the only microbial threat we face.

Back in 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that within a decade, antibiotic-resistant bacteria could make routine surgery, organ transplantation and cancer treatment life-threateningly risky and spell the end of modern medicine as we know it.

Antibiotics are a cornerstone of modern medicine, used to treat infections and to protect vulnerable patients undergoing surgery or chemotherapy. The world desperately needs new antibiotics and COVID-19 has only exacerbated the problem.

In our search for new antibiotics, we have focused on fungi, especially those found only in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our latest research describes the discovery of fungal compounds able to kill Mycobacteria, a family of slow-growing bacteria that includes another important global airborne killer Mycobacterium tuberculosis which causes the lung disease tuberculosis and kills thousands of people around the world each day.

While most people in Aotearoa know me as the pink-haired COVID lady, for the past six years my lab has been hunting for compounds that could make good antibiotics. Weve focused on fungi from the International Collection of Microorganisms from Plants (ICMP), cared for by the Crown Research Institute Manaaki Whenua and our collaborator Bevan Weir.

Our latest findings follow earlier research which revealed a fungal compound with some activity against the hospital superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.

One of the earliest antibiotics ever discovered, penicillin, originally came from a fungus called Penicillium rubens. With more than 10,000 fungi in the ICMP database, we think this may be a treasure trove of potential new antibiotics.

For our latest study, we tested 36 fungi collected between 1961 and 2016 from locations right across Aotearoa, including the Chatham Islands. Our first exciting finding is that nine of the fungi are not known species, suggesting they may well be unique to Aotearoa.

Aotearoa is well known for its iconic animal and plant species that arent found anywhere else in the world. Our fungi will be no different. And if they are unique, they may have come up with unique compounds able to kill bacteria.

Our second major finding is that 35 of the 36 fungi we tested had some form of antibacterial activity against Mycobacteria. In fact, when we first started doing this work, we thought we must have made a mistake. Wed never had anything like that kind of success rate when screening fungi against other superbugs.

Read more: How we discovered a hidden world of fungi inside the worlds biggest seed bank

Taking a deeper dive into the chemistry of those fungal compounds, we found the majority are fatty acids which wont make good antibiotics. But we did find several fungi, including two of our unknown species, whose antibacterial activity wasnt due to fatty acids.

Were currently working to identify these compounds, with our collaborators Melissa Cadelis and Brent Copp.

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili once said that most scientific progress is a messy, complex and slow process. Take the COVID-19 vaccines as a good example. While weve watched numerous vaccines come through clinical trials successfully and quickly, they are based on decades of scientific study of mRNA and lipid nanoparticles.

My labs search for antibiotics has its roots in work we did over a decade ago, making tools to make Mycobacteria glow in the dark. Because these bacteria grow so slowly, it can take weeks to months for them to form colonies on a petri dish.

But they glow only when they are alive, and this technique allows us to measure the amount of light they produce instead of waiting for them to grow. This massively speeds up the antibiotic discovery process.

Read more: New technology can create treatment against drug-resistant bacteria in under a week and adapt to antibiotic resistance

I started thinking about fungi as a potential source of new antibacterial compounds when Manaaki Whenuas fungi expert Peter Buchanan told me about the collection. After a few years of rejected funding applications, we finally got a small grant-in-aid from Cure Kids to get the project started in 2015.

One of their ambassadors, Eva, has battled superbug infections her whole life. Meeting Eva changed my relationship with my work and inspired me to do all I can to find new antibiotics.

Weve still got a way to go before we have any compounds that might be suitable for further development as antibiotics. We also know that many compounds fail as they move through the pipeline that takes them from the lab to clinical trials in humans.

Thats why my lab will keep working its way through the fungal collection for as long as we can afford to. There are thousands more fungi to screen and hopefully many more unique compounds with antibiotic potential to discover.

The rest is here:

The world is desperate for new antibiotics, and New Zealand's unique fungi are a source of promising compounds - The Conversation AU

New cases of Covid-19 have continued to drop in New Zealand, in a promising early indication that the countrys strict lockdown is working and its latest outbreak may be coming under control.

The country announced 49 new cases on Tuesday dropping for the second day in a row, down from 53 cases on Monday and 83 on Sunday. It is the lowest number of new cases reported in the country in six days.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the drop does provide a further reassuring indication that our public health measures are rapidly slowing the spread of the virus.

According to the latest modelling, Bloomfield said the reproduction rate of the virus in this outbreak is now looking like it is remaining under one, which means cases will continue to decline.

Asked whether New Zealanders should be celebrating the latest results, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she would ask New Zealanders to hold that thought.

Every day for me is, another step, a bit of progress, but [its] too early. For me I want to see sustained reductions over a period of time and I think actually most people want to see that. It is good not to see some of those high numbers we were only a few days ago.

Its another step. Weve still got a journey to go through.

New Zealand has been in a strict level 4 lockdown since 17 August, when a single case of Covid-19 was detected in the general population. Since then, the total number of cases in the outbreak has grown to 612.

The seriousness of Covid-19 infection is also very visible to us, Bloomfield said, with 33 people in hospital, including eight in intensive care of whom two were on ventilators. These hospitalisations obviously have an outward ripple effect on our communities and whnau [families], and my thoughts are with those individuals and their whnau. Its also sobering that of the current Auckland outbreak six cases are under the age of one.

Ardern said We have an 18-year-old in hospital right now. I dont think anyone can assume that they are safe from this virus, so we all have a job to do so. My request would be that we need everyone from all walks of life to do their best and to be the best role models that they can be.

Officials are still hunting for how the virus got into the community. While the first cases have been traced, via genomic testing, to a single quarantine facility in Auckland, they have not yet been able to identify exactly how someone outside the facility was infected.

Ardern said that all of the obvious sources of transmission people to people contact it would be fair to say that weve ruled most, if not all, of them out.

She said officials were now investigating theories of how the virus could transmit through the air, without person to person transmission.

A number of people have been evacuated from west Auckland due to flooding this morning. Ardern said that those emergency evacuations overrode pandemic alert levels.

See the rest here:

New Zealand cases drop to 49 in reassuring indication lockdown is working - The Guardian

New Zealand reported its first coronavirus death in more than six months on Saturday, while the number of new cases continued to trend downward. Health authorities said the woman who died was in her 90s and had underlying health problems.

Authorities reported 20 new community cases, all in the largest city of Auckland.

New Zealand remains in lockdown as it tries to eliminate an outbreak of the delta variant that began last month. The snap lockdown was announced in August after a man tested positive for the virus, marking the the first case there in six months, the BBC reported.

"Going hard and early has worked for us before," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at the time.

New cases in the outbreak have steadily fallen from a peak of more than 80 each day.

New Zealand has so far escaped the worst of the pandemic and has reported just 27 coronavirus deaths since it began.

See more here:

New Zealand reports first COVID death in over 6 months - CBS News