New Zealand will continue to pursue its ambitious Covid-19 elimination strategy indefinitely, Jacinda Ardern has said. She’s adding that borders would never be the same as she laid out plans for a cautious, phased, and reopening of the country.
- The prime minister set out the country’s much-awaited reopening strategy on Thursday and warned that New Zealand would always need some kind of protection at its border. “Just like after 9/11, the border will never be the same after Covid things can change, but that doesn’t mean we can’t adapt to them in a way that eventually feels normal again.”
- However, she also indicated, that all going well, vaccinated travelers from low-risk countries will be allowed to skip quarantine and enter the country early next year.
- Meanwhile, California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and school staff to get vaccinated or undergo weekly Covid testing. It’s happening as schools return from summer break amid growing concerns about the highly contagious delta variant, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.
- The new policy applies to public and private schools and will affect the state’s 320,000 public school teachers, more than 250,000 support staff from cafeteria employees to cleaners, and at least 80,000 private school employees. It will also apply to school volunteers.
- The UK researchers have found that extremely rare, blood clot syndrome after the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine carries a high risk of death and can occur in otherwise young and healthy people. In those aged under 50, blood clots occur in around one in 50,000 people who have received the vaccine, data suggests.
- Researchers examined the symptoms, signs, and outcomes in 220 confirmed and probable cases who presented in UK hospitals between 22 March and 6 June.
However, almost 1.2 million people in England are waiting more than six months for essential NHS services such as brain surgery and eye treatment because of the Covid backlog, analysis shows.
