New Zealand

Thousands of spaces in managed isolation and quarantine facilities will be freed up over the next 10 months, many of which will be made available for skilled and critical workers.

Ardern announced 500 rooms in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) would be set aside every fortnight for certain groups.

Flesh And Blood – Barnes’ 20th studio album – will be released on July 2, before he and his eight-piece band, made up mostly of his family, arrive to play at the newly refurbished Christchurch Town Hall on July 7, The Civic in Auckland on July 9, and Wellington’s TSB Arena on July 10. Tickets go on sale from midday on May 10.

These shows will be the first international dates Jimmy has played since the beginning of 2020.

Both of the health facilities were badly damaged in Tropical Cyclone Harold and have been prioritized by the Vanuatu Government for urgent repair as they provide essential primary health services to local communities.

New Zealand High Commissioner Jonathan Schwass and the Director-General of Health, Russell Tamata, signed a contract this week valued at 94 million vatu to fund the reconstruction and repair of these two facilities.

In his remarks, Director General Russell said “this signing demonstrates the good working relationship between Vanuatu and New Zealand.”

India's second wave of Covid-19 infections has seen at least 300,000 people a day test positive for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international response.

In the past 24 hours, 360,960 new cases were recorded, the largest single-day total in the world, taking India's total to nearly 18 million. A further 3293 deaths, the deadliest day so far, took the death toll to 201,187.

Experts believe the official tally vastly underestimates the actual toll in the country of 1.3 billion.

Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio said outbreaks in some Pacific island countries, such as Papua New Guinea and Fiji, are overwhelming for the authorities there.

He made the comments following a meeting with Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja and New Zealand's Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth Phil Twyford in Auckland today.

Senator Seselja is from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and has a strong interest in labour mobility so he is expected to reveal how this can help the Pacific's economic recovery post-Covid 19.

Aupito and Senator Seselja's get-together follows their foreign ministers' Nanaia Mahuta and Marise Payne meeting today.

The discussions had centred around the issue of 501 deportees and the Five Eyes matters.

The meetings are the first face-to-face ministerial talks betwen the two countries since the Covid-19 pandemic shut the borders.

In a statement, the ministry said the usual protocol of isolating the case, interviewing them and tracing their contacts and movements was under way.

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

The ministry said more information would be provided later today and the case would be included in tomorrow's totals.

The historical case was a recent returnee from Somalia via UAE who was tested on day 12 of their stay, but was considered recovered, the ministry said.

The long-awaited initiative removes the need for visitors to quarantine.

Both countries have contained Covid outbreaks and kept infection rates low, in large part due to hard borders.

Excited passengers crowded Australian airports ahead of reunions with family and friends.

Thousands of people are expected to travel on Monday with some rising before dawn to get ready to board.

"I didn't realise how emotional I was going to be today," passenger Dawn Tratt told the BBC at Sydney airport.

A police spokesperson said the car was seen speeding the wrong way down Karamu Road in Hastings and failed to stop for police just after 12.30am, fleeing down Kenilworth Road.

It hit gravel at the base of railway lines, become airborne and went over a fence, crashing into the fruit bins and ending about 10 metres above the ground.

Fire and Emergency spokesperson Mike Wanoa said rescuers used ladders to reach the man in the vehicle, then cut him free.

He was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Australia and New Zealand will jointly host the 32 team tournament with 12 cities from both countries having bid to host games.

The 64 games will be split between the two countries with the tournament opener and a semi-final to be played here while Sydney has already been confirmed as the host city for the final.

Football's world govenring body FIFA has carried out an eight month survey of each of the 12 candidate host cities which include, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington.