September 2 2021 A man with Covid-19 who escaped the new MIQ facility in Ellerslie took off in the middle of the night - but police were not alerted until 10.30am.

September 2 2021 There are 49 new Covid-19 cases today but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that only seven of these were infectious while in the community. Northland will move to alert level 3 tonight.

There are 75 new community cases and one MIQ case today - but director general of health Ashley Bloomfield says the bounce in numbers is not unexpected.

The Government faces a grilling on two unfolding crises: the recent outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in New Zealand and the Defence Force's involvement in the evacuation of Afghanistan.

There are 49 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today - the lowest in six days. Six babies under the age of one have caught Covid-19 in the Delta outbreak, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said.

Auckland will stay in alert level 4 for at least two more weeks. Northland will go to level three at 11:59pm on Thursday if wastewater tests - which are due on Thursday - come back clear. The rest of the country will move to level 3 from 11.59pm on Tuesday night.

August 29 2021 There are 83 Covid community cases today, taking the total cases in the outbreak to 511. The number is similar to the total reported yesterday - and officials and experts will be hoping this signals that the country's Delta outbreak might be at a plateau.

New Zealand will stay in lockdown until 11.59pm on Tuesday - and Auckland will likely remain at level 4 for a fortnight after that, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

NZDF personnel and the planeloads of people who they are evacuating from Afghanistan narrowly missed explosions that occurred at Hamid Karzai International Airport last night, resulting in dozens of deaths.

There are 68 new Delta cases in New Zealand today, bringing the overall total of the Covid outbreak to 277 people. 263 are in Auckland and 14 are in Wellington.

Police Minister Poto Williams and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster are briefing MPs this morning on the police enforcement of the Covid-19 Delta outbreak.

August 25 2021 There are 62 new Covid-19 cases in the community today. Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the total number of cases in the outbreak has now hit 210. There are 12 people in hospital with Covid-19.

24 August 2021 Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield says the Health Ministry was never against increasing surge capacity for contact-tracing, despite it being explicitly mentioned in an independent review of the February outbreak.

24 August 2021 There are 41 new Covid-19 cases in the community today, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 148.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson told the Finance and Expenditure committee that the economy was well-positioned to deal with the Delta outbreak and the lockdowns.

The first group of New Zealand citizens, their families and "other visa holders" evacuated from Afghanistan will arrive in New Zealand this afternoon.

August 23 2021 New Zealand will stay in alert level 4 lockdown until at least midnight on Friday, and Auckland will stay locked down until at least midnight on Tuesday next week. Earlier today it was announced there are now 107 Covid cases in NZ.

Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention making her acceptance speech

August 21 2021 There are 21 new cases of Covid-19 in the community - bringing the total number of people infected in the latest outbreak to 51.

PM Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson pay tribute to Sir Michael Cullen.

New Zealand's level 4 lockdown has been extended nationwide until 11.59pm on Tuesday after confirmation the Covid-19 outbreak has spread to Wellington.

August 19 2021 A military plane on a mercy dash to Kabul to rescue New Zealanders, interpreters and others who worked with Kiwi troops fighting the Taliban has left this morning.

August 19 2021 There are now 21 Delta Covid-19 cases in Auckland, including two in hospital.

More than 260,000 children aged 12 to 15 in New Zealand can now receive the vaccine.

August 18 2021 'We are here to support New Zealanders through this' - Finance Minister Grant Robertson

August 18 2021 There are now seven Covid-19 cases in the community, with two additional cases to report from the five announced this morning. The outbreak is the Delta strain of the virus and it came from NSW, Australia.

August 17 2021 Auckland and Coromandel will go into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of the country for three days – from 11.59pm tonight.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard reveals details about a deceased baby that was found at a recycling facility in Onehunga. Video / NZ Herald

PM Jacinda Ardern says the focus is to get New Zealanders out of Afghanistan, or those such as translators whose lives were at risk because they supported our country while New Zealand was in Afghanistan.

The Government has approved funding for a pay equity claim for nurses, with nurses, DHBS and the Ministry of Health urged to start negotiations straight away.