Local Auckland Auckland news, New Zealand

New Zealand lockdown after one case of COVID-19 infection

New Zealand authorities on Tuesday announced the country's return to a tough lockdown, after the first case of local coronavirus infection was detected for the first time in six months.

Several cases of infection are recorded in the country every day, but so far, recently, all of them have been detected in people who have arrived from abroad. Now the virus has been identified in a nurse at a nursing home in Oakland. Nine more cases of infection were announced on Wednesday.

A balloon crashed in Arrowtown on the South Island of New Zealand, injuring 11 people.

Two people were seriously injured and nine others were injured in a balloon crash.

Police said there were no casualties and the two most injured were taken by helicopter to Dunedin Hospital.

The World-First Weight Loss Device

University of Otago and UK researchers have developed a world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic.

DentalSlim Diet Control is an intra-oral device fitted by a dental professional to the upper and lower back teeth. It uses magnetic devices with unique custom-manufactured locking bolts. It allows the wearer to open their mouths only about 2mm, restricting them to a liquid diet, but it allows free speech and doesn’t restrict breathing.

Participants in a Dunedin-based trial lost an average of 6.36kg in two weeks and were motivated to continue with their weight loss journey.

30,000 nurses in New Zealand went on a one-day strike, demanding higher wages.

The strike began after the New Zealand Nurses' Union rejected a 1.4% pay rise proposed by the County Health Council earlier this week.

The government says nurses are demanding a 17% increase, which it cannot afford, but has promised to continue negotiations.

New Zealand has decided to grant leave to parents who have suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth

Parliament unanimously supported the decision to provide mothers and their partners with three days of leave if there was a miscarriage or the child was born still.

The bill was presented by Labor MP Ginny Andersen.

Such a bill will allow parents who have not survived the birth of a baby to “come to terms with the loss” by using their legal right to leave.

New Zealand residents evacuated from tsunami threat allowed to return home