Our summer 2021 newsletter includes a review of the 6th OHA Symposium held late last year, spotlights OSPRI New Zealand Limited and includes a link to a COVID-19 documentary featuring Prof Nigel French and Drs Jemma Geoghegan and Joep de Ligt.   View the OHA Summer 2021 newsletter.

Exactly one year ago tomorrow (February 26) the first confirmed case of COVID-19 arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand. Identified only as “a person in their 60s recently returned from Iran”, the case marked the beginning of an extraordinary period in the life of the country. A year on, what are some of the lessons we…

Researchers from Massey University and the University of Warwick have found that non-dairy stock farmers are just as likely to get infected with leptospirosis as dairy farmers, proving the disease is no longer dominant in one farming sector. People contract leptospirosis from infected animal urine, and knowing the patient’s occupation is critical to combatting the…

New variants of SARS-CoV-2 have now evaded New Zealand’s border protections twice to spread into the community. In the most recent outbreak, which placed Auckland into an alert level 3 lockdown, there are three active community cases of the more infectious B.1.1.7 lineage. While we have seen the virus mutate over the entire course of…

Today’s provisional approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine means New Zealand could start rolling out its COVID-19 immunisation programme as early as next month. In announcing the approval, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said border workers and the people they live with, cleaners and nurses working at quarantine facilities, security and airline staff and hotel workers would…