Detective Inspector Scott Anderson will be speaking to media at 11am today following the launch of a homicide inquiry overnight. Video / George Heard

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has set out a plan to start re-opening the borders, starting with a trial this year of home isolation or shorter MIQ stays for selected travellers

The risk of a Delta outbreak means a relook at New Zealand's alert level settings, says Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

Energy Minister Megan Woods says "commercial decisions" made by New Zealand's power companies were to blame for last night's power shortages.

New Zealanders not having power on one of the coldest nights of the year was not acceptable, Energy Minister Megan Woods has just told media.

PM Jacinda Ardern said more than 300,000 New Zealanders aged 50 – 55 years will now be able to book their vaccines from Friday, August 13.

PM Jacinda Ardern spoke to the media after the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting held on Friday.

August 4 2021 New Zealand has passed the 2 million Covid vaccine jabs milestone. Of these, 1,251,000 are first doses and almost 770,000 people have had two doses and are fully vaccinated.

Seasonal workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will be able to enter New Zealand from next month. This would be one way, entering New Zealand only, and they would not need to go through managed isolation.

The Government has shut the transtasman travel bubble for at least the next eight weeks. PM Jacinda Ardern said she would not risk the hard work put in by the team of 5 million by keeping the bubble open when the risk was high from the Delta variant.

People in group 4 will receive notification from July 28 about being able to make a vaccine booking. From the end of July the vaccination programme would really start ramping up, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

A man at the centre of a major police incident pulled a woman from her car at gunpoint and led police on a dramatic chase through inner Auckland. In Hamilton, a man is dead after exchanging gunfire with police. Video / NZ Herald

The mass vaccination would be targeted at Manukau Institute of Technology students and their families - and would be an opportunity for people in group 4 to be vaccinated ahead of schedule.

There are still 1766 border workers who are completely unvaccinated - and most of them won't have to get a single vaccine jab to continue to work at the front line for more than two and a half months.

The single-dose Janssen Covid vaccine has been approved for those aged 18 and older in New Zealand.

PM Jacinda Ardern says the transtasman bubble pause will be lifted for Western Australia and the Northern Territory from 11.59pm on July 9, but will remain in place for Queensland and New South Wales.

As of midnight last night, 149,608 doses of vaccine had been administered across New Zealand, while more than 444,000 New Zealanders had received their second dose.

Wellington will return to alert level 1 from 11.59pm tonight, eight days after a Covid-infected Sydney tourist flew out of the capital. Video / Mark Mitchell

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been sentenced to 22 years and six months for the murder of George Floyd.

There are no new cases of Covid-19 in the community today.

Focus Live: PM Jacinda Ardern on the travel bubble with Australia

There are no new cases of Covid-19 in the community or in MIQ to report.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announces that the Wellington region will move to Alert Level 2 starting at 6pm Wednesday. Video / Mark Mitchell

PM Jacinda Ardern has welcomed Medsafe's "very carefully considered" provisional approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15.

PM Jacinda Ardern reveals how Kiwis will be able to book their Covid vaccinations through a national system ahead of the general public rollout. Video / NZ Herald

Dr Ashley Bloomfield says 891,702 vaccine doses had been administered and yesterday more than 21,000 doses had been administered

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she was "misled" over the latest book about her, saying it was pitched as a book about women and leadership based on interviewing up to 10 political leaders.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Government has agreed to make an official apology for the dawn raids targeting Pasifika people in the 1970s.

There have been more than 750,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine administered so far, an increase of 107,000 in the last week.

Pfizer has confirmed that about 1 million doses of its vaccine will be delivered to New Zealand during July.