In the Loop: Bloomfield resigns as Covid - and red light - continues to dominate

As the country gets closer to the two-year anniversary of our first lockdown, Covid-19 is showing no sign of going anywhere.

In fact, the World Health Organisation this week issued a warning about XE - a new strain of the Omicron variant which they say is 10 per cent more transmissible than the strain currently circulating across New Zealand.

It prompted director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield to warn that the current Covid-19 guidelines could be reviewed if the new variant takes hold here.

However, Bloomfield won't be the man shaping our response for much longer. In a shock move on Wednesday, the head of the Ministry of Health announced he was stepping down from his role before his term is over.

On this week's episode of In the Loop, the New Zealand Herald's youth news podcast, hosts Cheree Kinnear and Katie Harris break down the shock news about both the resignation and the new Covid-19 threat.

Plus, they dig into the move by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to keep the current red light setting for another fortnight, and how people in different cities feel about the changes.

And Katie explains what's happening at the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch, after students protested against the school letting a contentious pupil return to study.

In international news, they discuss the latest horror stories to have emerged from the invasion in Ukraine, and discuss the controversies that have emerged from this week's Grammy Awards, which saw comedian Louis C.K. win a trophy despite having multiple sexual harassment allegations against him.

In the Loop is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes come out every Friday morning.

You can find more New Zealand Herald podcasts at nzherald.co.nz/podcasts or on iHeartRadio.