NZ

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the rollout in the Cook Islands would begin on 19 May. It was expected to take six to eight weeks, and would then be followed by programmes in Niue and Tokelau - both are also part of the realm of New Zealand.

The government today pledged to provide additional Covid-19 vaccines to Pacific Island nations, so their total delivery would reach at least 1.2 million people in the region in the coming year.

Cabinet ministers have this afternoon signed off on a 17 May start date, pending final confirmation by New Zealand's Director-General of Health and the Cook Islands Secretary of Health.

It will be subject to final checks such as airline and airport preparedness.

New Zealand would be providing the Cook Islands with enough vaccine to immunise its population. That roll-out would also commence later this month but is not considered a pre-condition for the bubble.

Australian courts recently found Google's privacy settings misled consumers over whether their location data was being stored on Android devices, because although the information was in the terms and conditions - it was not clear.

Law firm Bell Gully senior associate Richard Massey said the case would be of interest to New Zealand's regulators.

Western Australia plans to keep treating New Zealand arrivals like international travellers and enforcing mandatory quarantine - bursting some potential travellers' hopes of travel bubble bliss.

Among them is Moira Green, who launched straight into plans to see her two sons and granddaughter in Fremantle after the announcement of quarantine-free trans-Tasman trips on Tuesday.

Her travel agent broke the news she'd still have to spend two weeks and at least $2500 staying in government-run quarantine if she wanted to get to the state.

FIFA has cofirmed New Zealand's host cities are: Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin.

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 at Auckland's Eden Park while Sydney will host the final.

Nine cities will host games, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Dunedin, Hamilton, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington.

The airport has made plans to segregate at-risk and no-risk travellers - dividing the international terminal into two self-contained processing zones.

Zone A, a safe travel area, will be used exclusively for quarantine-free arrivals and all departures.

Zone B, the health management area, will be used for processing arrivals who are going on to managed isolation facilities.

Auckland Airport chief executive Adrian Littlewood told Morning Report that planning started in August 2020 and its price tag is in the millions.

Nanaia Mahuta told the New Zealand Parliament, discussions were being held around the implementation of a so-called TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organisation aimed at speeding up the production and delivery of vaccines.

The TRIPS [Trade and Intellectual Property Rules] mechanism looked to protect intellectual property and trade interests but in doing so critics said it slowed collaboration between companies.

NGOs had called for a waiver to be approved immediately.

Mahuta said the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines needed to be addressed urgently.

Ministers are actively working on the proposal and the next step would be for it to go to the full Cabinet, potentially this coming Monday.

That will be on the condition there are no community outbreaks of Covid-19 or lockdowns in the meantime.

There could also be an arrangement for safe travel zones with realm countries, the Cook Islands and Niue, which the government have long said would be a priority.

The door has already been partially opened, with New Zealand allowing passengers from the Cook Islands and more recently Niue to come here quarantine-free.

During this afternoon's 1pm press conference, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the new community case was a student at Papatoetoe High School.

The school now remains closed until further notice.

The person is considered a casual-plus contact who had been advised to self-isolate and get tested, the ministry said in a statement earlier today.

Hipkins said the student had not returned to school on Monday. The case was picked up by testing of all students and staff before they were able to return to school.

The one-way travel bubble was suspended last Sunday night after three community cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Auckland and the city went into level 3 lockdown for three days while the rest of New Zealand was put in level 2 Covid restrictions for the same period.

New Zealanders wanting to enter Australia without quarantining will need a negative coronavirus test result less than 72 hours prior to departure, if they have been in Auckland any time in a two-week period before travelling.