Stories by Katie Todd

About 2600 people will be eligible to exit their managed isolation hotel on Sunday, when stays for international arrivals are shortened to seven days.

Staff in MIQ hotels are being told not to walk alone - and getting security escorts to visit certain guests - because of an increased risk of violence.

When health authorities asked if she would like to go into MIQ, she said she declined because she did not know much about it and did not want to leave her family without support.

A group of public health experts say incoming travellers have a lower risk of carrying Covid-19 than the average Aucklander.

Tourism operators that rely on a summer influx of Aucklanders fear a death knell if travel restrictions are not lifted by Christmas.

Building managers and body corporates in Auckland want better communication from health authorities to keep their tenants safe.

A woman in MIQ says it was "brutal" and "inhumane" of MIQ staff to take away a chance to comfort her father in the last moments of his life, without explanation.

While thousands of stranded New Zealanders pin their hopes on an imminent MIQ announcement, the lobby system for bookings is already being gamed by a third party group.

Senior high school students who donned their uniform for the first time in two months today have described mixed emotions of "tremendous" excitement and rattled nerves.

The woman who handed herself in to police was one of three people to make a break for freedom in quick succession last night, after being sent to quarantine from the community.

As officials beg Aucklanders to follow the alert level 3 rules, some city dwellers are asking for clarity around the Covid strategy in return.

Returnees were caught escaping MIQ hotels, attempting escape or venturing into out of bounds areas 117 times in a 10-month period.

Expectant couples trying to reunite before their baby arrives are getting caught up in the MIQ booking bottleneck.

The getaway driver who helped the killer of police officer Matthew Hunt to flee has been jailed for 12 months.

Psychologists say there's emerging evidence of long-term and in some cases 'severe' effects from time spent in MIQ.

Officials don't know how much they've splashed out on MIQ subsidies for international sports teams.

The government agreed to subsidise international sports stars' managed isolation and quarantine bills last year - paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per team.

The idea was shot down by officials who looked at options and each time found a shortage of resources - and a risk of public backlash.

The events preceding the LynnMall stabbings will be investigated by three agencies in a coordinated formal review.

At least 15 rest homes are turning down new admissions because the migrant nurses they have hired, cannot enter the country.

Vaccination centres have been scaled up again in Auckland today, amid second-dose bookings from the country's first mass vaccination event.

Auckland District Health Board has been accused of putting vulnerable patients and a stretched workforce at risk with lenient rules for visitors during lockdown.

As health authorities scramble to investigate a mystery Covid-19 infection at Middlemore Hospital the management of the case has been slated as a failure and a mess by unions and opposition parties.

A 19-year-old who fled the LynnMall stabbings and helped a wounded woman says she didn't realise the serious impact the attack had on her until she visited another supermarket on the weekend.

A criminologist who deemed the LynnMall attacker 'low risk' in 2018 believes there were missed opportunities to steer him away from violent extremism.