While many Kiwis are probably looking forward to a summer holiday after a year of pandemic-related problems, health officials are warning it’s a potentially dangerous time in the country’s fight against Covid-19.
To that end, the Government has launched a new ‘Make Summer Unstoppable’ campaign, telling Kiwis that if they forget the Covid basics, summer could yet come to a grinding halt .
Citing the post-Thanksgiving fallout the US is currently suffering with its spike in cases, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says he doesn’t want to see the same thing happen in New Zealand.
The holiday period creates more challenges for authorities if an outbreak occurs with extra large-scale events, more social gatherings and people travelling to holiday hot spots . Hipkins says the Government has been working through several resurgence scenarios for such instances.
The new campaign comes as several more cases of Covid-19 were picked up at New Zealand’s border over the weekend, including an Air New Zealand crew member .
The Ministry of Health says testing indicates the airline employee likely picked up the virus in the US.
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NZ edges closer to travel bubble
Quarantine-free travel was also back on the agenda over the weekend, with the New Zealand and Cook Island Governments agreeing to establish a bubble by the end of March .
Tourism operators are pleased with the announcement, however, some say the current timeframe is too vague .
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown told 1 NEWS he expects a date for the first phase of the travel agreement will be confirmed this week.
The NZ Herald reports Mike Pero has also begun the process to get a new airline – Pasifika Air – approved to serve several flights a week between Rarotonga and New Zealand from next year.
Meanwhile, Chris Hipkins yesterday explained why a trans-Tasman bubble is still a tricky proposition.
He says logistical issues need to be worked through for such an arrangement, including the segregation of air crews and planning for outbreak scenarios .
That planning comes as Australia marked eight days without community transmission of Covid-19 over the weekend, a statistic the country hasn’t seen since February.
US vaccine rollout underway
The US public will begin receiving Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine later today after it was authorised for emergency use over the weekend.
Three million doses of the vaccine are already being distributed around the country .
The first vaccinations come after the US recorded more than 3,300 Covid-related deaths on Saturday, the highest recorded total in a single day anywhere in the world.
Fire crews kept busy
Fire crews remain on high alert after a spate of fires in Christchurch over the weekend.
A large blaze erupted in the Port Hills on Friday night, which scorched nearly 30 hectares of land and forced around 40 households to evacuate. Authorities then attended a string of fires around the city on Saturday night.
A large scrub fire also forced the evacuation of homes in the Coromandel on Saturday afternoon, while fire crews in the Bay of Plenty were kept busy yesterday attending a blaze that broke out on Matakana Island .
Christmas cheer for exporters
There’s some good news for New Zealand exporters struggling to get their goods overseas during the pandemic.
The Government has renewed the International Airfreight Capacity (IAFC) scheme until March, which will continue the subsidising of freight flights .
The move will help fund nearly 80 flights per week that may not otherwise be able to take to the skies.
New agreements have been struck with Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, with others also on the cards.
Other news of note this morning:
- RNZ reports there’s been a breakthrough towards resolving the standoff over Ihumātao.
- The UK and EU have agreed to extend their Brexit trade talks as the two parties look to discuss “major unresolved topics”. The Guardian has explained what those topics are here .
- Thousands of Donald Trump supporters returned to Washington over the weekend to back his efforts to subvert the election he lost to Joe Biden.
- Police are investigating a concerning message that was chalked outside a mosque in Christchurch.
- NZ’s longest imprisoned asylum seeker is fighting for compensation for what he says is a breach of his human rights.
- Kāpiti Airport was shut down yesterday after a threat was made on social media.
- The mother of a disabled man is challenging Government ministers in court today over the way family carers are treated.
- And new research shows that the amount of time we spend on smartphones is not related to poor mental health.
And finally...
New Zealand is shaping up to be remembered globally for two things in 2020 – our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and our apparent obsession with a cat named Mittens.
The capital’s most famous feline made headlines this year by being inexplicably bestowed with Wellington’s key to the city and even appeared on CNN when he was nominated for New Zealander of the Year.
And now he’s topping New Zealand’s iTunes charts with a charity song in his honour.
The “official” Mittens song is all about the cat’s adventures around Wellington and has just beaten the likes of Six60 and Taylor Swift to the number one spot. Because this is New Zealand and of course it has.
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