The New Zealand government signed a deal on Monday to buy 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc PFE.N and Germany's BioNTech 22UAy.F, with delivery potentially as early as the first quarter of 2021.

The government did not disclose financial terms of the deal, its first vaccine purchase, which will provide enough doses to vaccinate 750,000 people.

Officials said talks were continuing with other drug companies to secure more vaccine supplies for the country of 5 million people and further announcements were expected next month.

“The additional agreements will ensure that once the portfolio is completed, we will have sufficient COVID-19 vaccines for the whole population,” Research Minister Megan Woods said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-newzealand/new-zealand-signs-deal-with-pfizer-biontech-for-covid-19-vaccine-idUSL4N2H30QG

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There are no new cases of Covid-19 to report in New Zealand today.

New Zealand has recorded 1,515 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

The country's total number of active cases remains at 45 – and all of them are imported cases.

There are no active Covid cases in the community.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-zero-new-cases-today-no-one-in-hospital-with-virus/3WYSFYC76SCMZIWUZNEKOMPL6I/

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As we move into the spring/summer period where flu is always uncommon in New Zealand, Professor Michael Baker offers his analysis on the flu season numbers and why masks continue to be so important.

He said there has been "near extinction of influenza in New Zealand following our very effective Covid-19 response", as numbers vanished from the two standard systems for surveillance - resulting in a 99.8 percent reduction in flu cases.

According to Baker, there were usually 1600 more deaths in winter, compared to other seasons, and around a third of those were caused by influenza, mostly in older people with long-term health conditions.

"What the Covid-19 response has done has largely eliminated those excess winter deaths and mortality as a whole is down around 5 percent," he said. "So that means an extra 1500 people will survive this year who wouldn't have."

Baker said these measures had led to "a revolutionary change in thinking about how to deal with respiratory pathogens" and could be brought back in the event of a serious flu pandemic.

"These are not measures you would roll out routinely of course, but if we had a particularly severe respiratory disease like a severe flu pandemic ... and it had the same infection fatality risk as we've seen with Covid, that is half a percent or one percent of people dying, then we could think about using these measures again."

However, despite flu numbers being down, lockdown measures had not managed to stop ordinary colds and respiratory illnesses, such as rhinoviruses - which had dropped slightly during lockdown but bounced back soon after.

"A lot does come down to their reservoirs and some are so well-adapted for humans and they're so widespread in the population that they are not affected a great deal by the lockdown."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018767843/near-extinction-of-influenza-in-nz-as-numbers-drop-due-to-lockdown

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All community cases in New Zealand’s second Covid-19 outbreak have recovered, with the health minister saying the virus has been “squashed”.

The news comes as the Ministry of Health announced there were three new cases of the virus detected in managed isolation on Wednesday.

The ministry said all patients from the recent Auckland outbreak have recovered and there are no active community cases remaining.

“The Auckland August cluster will officially close when there have been no new cases for two incubation periods from when all cases complete isolation,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/123009637/covid19-all-auckland-community-cluster-cases-recovered-virus-squashed

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Coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand’s largest city will be lifted this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday as she expressed confidence a second wave of COVID-19 infections in Auckland has been almost eliminated.

The city will move to alert level 1 from 11.59 p.m. on Wednesday, joining the rest of the country, after reporting no new cases in the Auckland cluster for 10 consecutive days.

“There is now a 95% probability of the cluster being eliminated,” Ardern said at a news conference. “COVID-19 will be with us for many months to come. But we should still mark these milestones.”

New Zealand, a nation of five million, appeared to have stamped out community transmission of COVID-19 earlier this year following a tough nationwide lockdown that was subsequently lifted.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzealand/new-zealands-ardern-lifts-coronavirus-restrictions-in-auckland-idUSKBN26Q021?il=0

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Another day of no new cases of COVID-19 has been recorded in New Zealand, the Director-General of Health has revealed.

Tuesday's figures marks the second consecutive day of no coronavirus cases in the community or in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield says three people remain in hospital - one each in Auckland City, Middlemore, North Shore - though none of these patients are in intensive care.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/09/coronavirus-zero-new-cases-of-covid-19-in-new-zealand.html

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday lifted all coronavirus restrictions across the country, except in second-wave hotspot Auckland, as the number of new infections slowed to a trickle.

Some restrictions were also eased in Auckland to allow gatherings of up to 100 people, but the country’s biggest city needed more time before all curbs could be lifted, Ardern said.

“Our actions collectively have managed to get the virus under control,” she told reporters in Auckland. “This was the centre of the outbreak and that’s why that caution is needed here.”

New Zealand, a nation of five million, appeared to have halted community transmission of COVID-19 earlier this year, but a fresh outbreak in Auckland in August prompted the government to place the city back in lockdown.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-newzealand/new-zealand-ends-all-pandemic-restrictions-outside-main-city-of-auckland-idUSKCN26C02F

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New Zealand’s largest city has exited lockdown after the government said a Covid-19 outbreak there has been brought under control and it remains on track to again eliminate the virus from the community.

Auckland schools and customer-facing businesses re-opened on Monday and a ban on traveling out of the city was lifted, almost three weeks after the outbreak prompted the reintroduction of restrictions. Social distancing requirements remain in place for the whole country under level 2 restrictions and everyone from the age of 12 is now required to wear a mask on public transport.

“Our testing shows that it is highly unlikely there is Covid anywhere else in the country and we want to keep it that way,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday. “The last thing we want from re-opening Auckland is to spread the virus around the country, and that is one of the reasons we continue to have level 2 settings across New Zealand,” she said. The government expects to further review all alert settings by Sept. 6.

https://time.com/5884996/new-zealand-auckland-coronavirus-lockdown

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New Zealand said on Wednesday that it had five new cases of coronavirus in the community, and one in managed isolation facilities.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the drop in cases indicated the country was not seeing a surge of COVID-19 in the community. There were 13 cases reported on Tuesday.

“The roll out of our resurgence plan is working as we intended,” Ardern said, adding there was no intention to raise the level of restrictions in Auckland.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-newzealand/new-zealand-domestic-coronavirus-cases-drop-to-five-idUSW9N2DG00C

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New Zealand has lifted almost all of its coronavirus restrictions after reporting no active cases in the country.

At midnight local time (12:00 GMT), all of New Zealand moved to level one, the lowest of a four-tier alert system.

Under new rules, social distancing is not required and there are no limits on public gatherings, but borders remain closed to foreigners.

New Zealand has reported no new Covid-19 cases for more than two weeks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters she did "a little dance" when she was told the country no longer had any active virus cases.

"While we're in a safer, stronger position, there's still no easy path back to pre-Covid life, but the determination and focus we have had on our health response will now be vested in our economic rebuild," Ms Ardern said.

"While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone. So can I finish with a very simple, 'Thank you, New Zealand'."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52961539

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