NZ

The newly-appointed Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said he expects quarantine-free travel with New Zealand to be in place by December.

New Zealand's Prime Minister said she expects her country will soon be in a position to open up to the Cook Islands.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said his country is committed to making the 'Bula Bubble' work with its major partners in the region.

It means the second Bledisloe Cup test will be played at Eden Park next Sunday, as fans will be allowed to attend.

The test would have been moved to Dunedin if Auckland remained at Alert Level 2.

NZR general manager professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum says it's great news.

"Auckland fans missed out on both the North v South match last month and the Blues v Crusaders match so this is positive news that they will be able to enjoy Test match rugby,' Lendrum said.

On August 28, the Ministry of Health confirmed seven imported cases of COVID-19; three men in their 30s, a woman in her 60s, a woman in her 20s, and two children.  

They arrived in New Zealand on the flight in question - an Air India flight from Delhi, on August 23. 

The first shipment in an export trial of Vanuatu's Tahitian limes arrived in New Zealand in February.

Biosecurity New Zealand said Vanuatu officials had agreed to stop issuing export certificates for the limes until the issues were resolved.

Without identifying the issues, the agency said it was "working closely with local officials to identify and address any gaps in Vanuatu's certification system".

Vanuatu Plant Biosecurity Officer Touasi Tiwok told the Daily Post the temporary stop was an opportunity to discuss "risks" to New Zealand.

Terrorist and mass murderer Brenton Tarrant will spend the rest of his life behind bars, after he was sentenced yesterday for killing 51 people and injuring 40 at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques last year.

Court documents which were suppressed until the end of the sentencing show Tarrant applied to appear at his sentencing by way of audio-visual link.

His counsel said it would provide cost-saving and avoid the need for secure transfer from Auckland to Christchurch.

Pacific people make up close to 75 percent of the cases in the Auckland cluster.

Commenting on whether he was concerned about the susceptibility of Pacific Islanders to Covid-19, Kris Faafoi said things like the prevalence of non-communicable diseases in the community were concerning.

But he said Pacific people were no more susceptible now than they were during the first wave of Covid-19 and he reiterated that everyone was at risk.

In March, Brenton Tarrant made a late guilty plea to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

He is due to be sentenced on 24 August.

Tarrant appeared via audio-visual link (AVL) in Christchurch High Court this morning where he waived his rights to a lawyer to represent himself for sentencing.

His previous lawyers Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson withdrew their application to represent him.

The Times of India has quoted an unamed Indian cricket official saying New Zealand is the latest country after UAE and Sri Lanka which has offered to host the compeition in case the billion dollar league can't be held in India because of COVID-19.

The competition was due to start in March but has been postponed indefinitely although the BCCI is hopeful is of playing it from the end of September-early November.

The United States, Brazil and China are excluded.

Along with New Zealand on the current Covid-19 'safe list' are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The EU is ready to add China if the Chinese government offers a reciprocal travel deal for EU citizens.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there are still no cases reported from the community.

Both cases have been in managed isolation since they arrived and are now in the quarantine facility in Auckland, Dr Bloomfield said.

One is a man in his 50s who arrived in NZ from India on 24 June - his result came from day 3 testing.

The second is a woman in her 20s who arrived from the US on 18 June, the wife of a previous case who tested positive on 22 June and was already in quarantine as she was considered a close contact.