Tag: covid-19
A NZ media conundrum over how to cover the ‘dangerous’ conspiracists
By Hayden Donnell, RNZ Mediawatch producer
A documentary from Stuff Circuit this week delved into Aotearoa New Zealand's growing extreme far-right and anti-vax movement.
Why did...
WHO declares public health emergency for Marshall Islands
RNZ Pacific
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the covid outbreak in the Marshall Islands a Public Health Emergency.
A total of 571 new omicron...
Marshall Islands covid spread demonstrates super variant
By Giff Johnson, Marshall Islands Journal editor and RNZ Pacific correspondent in Majuro
The Marshall Islands is a live demonstration that the omicron BA.5 variant...
Will Fiji’s 2022 hotly contested elections further cement democracy?
ANALYSIS: By Shailendra Singh of the University of the South Pacific
In Fiji’s politically charged context, national elections are historically a risky period. Since the...
NZ’s first cruise ship since beginning of pandemic arrives – next...
RNZ News
The P&O Pacific Explorer has docked in at Queens Wharf in Auckland from Sydney, the first cruise ship to arrive in Aotearoa New...
Cook Islands: Navigating the rise of third party politics and a...
Cook Islands Press
By Jason Brown
Tens of thousands of Cook Islanders celebrated 57th Constitution Day events these last weeks.
Not just in the homeland, but overseas...
Marshall Islands loses ‘covid-free’ status with 6 cases confirmed
By Giff Johnson, editor of the Marshall Islands Journal in Majuro
The Marshall Islands lost its covid-free status yesterday when tests confirmed six positive cases...
Public health ‘patriot’ protesters march onto central Auckland streets
RNZ News
Protesters blocked roads in central Auckland this afternoon for the second time in two weeks, marching past the main entrance to the city's...
Back on stage – Pacific Music Awards gig banishes covid blues
By Susana Suisuiki and Finau Fonua of RNZ Pacific
The Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, Auckland came alive with music, glitz and glam for the...
Despite what political leaders say, New Zealand’s health workforce is in...
ANALYSIS: By Paula Lorgelly, University of Auckland
Late last month, New Zealand Health Minister Andrew Little stated what most who work in health already know.
Healthcare...
Nick Rockel: ‘Over and out from me’ – Dr Ashley Bloomfield
COMMENTARY: By Nick Rockel
On Friday I watched Ashley Bloomfield’s last afternoon health update. After all we’ve been through over the past couple of years,...
Niue enters covid-19 red alert level as case numbers rise to...
RNZ Pacific
The government of Niue has announced the country will move to covid-19 alert level red after it recorded nine new cases of the...
NZ’s Ashley Bloomfield bows out – a look at his key...
RNZ News
After guiding New Zealand through two and a half years of a pandemic, Dr Ashley Bloomfield's time as Director-General of Health has come...
Micronesia to reopen borders despite covid community spread
RNZ Pacific
The Federated States of Micronesia will reopen its international borders on Monday.
President David Panuelo said anyone wishing to travel will need to be...
Tokelau keen to get its people stuck abroad back home again
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist
Plans are underway to help Tokelauans stuck abroad, mostly in New Zealand and Samoa, to return home.
The general manager...
Covid and reality: Do we care enough about the common good?
ANALYSIS: By Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University
The covid-19 pandemic has already generated its own mythology. In Britain, they talk of the “myth of the...
‘You’ve got to be tenacious in public health,’ says NZ’s departing...
RNZ News
After leading the Aotearoa New Zealand's covid-19 response for the last two years, Dr Ashley Bloomfield is stepping down from the role of...
Pandemic effect on human rights ‘catastrophic’, says Samoan report
RNZ Pacific
Samoa's Ombudsman Luamanuvao Katalaina Sapolu says the human rights effects from the covid-19 pandemic have been catastrophic.
She has just submitted Samoa's eighth State...
Tokelau family under house arrest for nearly a year over vaccine...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist
A family has been under house arrest in Tokelau for almost a year after they refused to get vaccinated...
Digital toolbox needed to counter Pacific ‘hotspot of misinformation’
ANALYSIS: By Romitesh Kant
A shortage of resources and investment from major digital platforms has left the Pacific region battling a campaign of misinformation and...
Sick and tired of the sickness – some media try to...
By Hayden Donnell, RNZ Mediawatch producer
Covid has now killed around 1700 people in New Zealand, but much of our news reporting and commentary has focused on...
‘We’ve politicised this issue too much’ – NZ expert calls for...
By Craig McCulloch, RNZ News deputy political editor
A prominent New Zealand epidemiologist is calling for much wider mask mandates, saying the roll-out of free...