title: NEC Nijmegen

text: In the first round of the European tournament, NEC narrowly defeated Norway's Brann, 2–1 on aggregate. A few days later, the draw was completed for the second round, which pitted the superstars of Barcelona – with both Bernd Schuster and Diego Maradona – against the small Dutch outfit. Both players were injured for the tie, though there was still excitement for the fans at the Goffertstadion – NEC raced into a 2–0 lead after 44 minutes, with goals from Anton Janssen and Michel Mommertz, though the "Blaugrana" would hit back, winning the game 3–2, and strolled to a 2–0 victory at Camp Nou in the second leg.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: 29 May 2003 marked a historic day for NEC. Following a late strike from Jaromír Šimr against RKC Waalwijk, NEC finished fifth in the Eredivisie. For the first time in the club's history, NEC qualified for the UEFA Cup through their league position. This led to unprecedented scenes with jubilant fans invading the pitch. Similar scenes occurred in the city centre with over 25,000 people celebrating.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: In the 2007–08 Eredivisie season, NEC qualified for European competition again, despite a disappointing first half of the season, when the club found itself in 17th place at the winter break. However, there was a remarkable turnaround. From January, NEC improved their form and finished eighth place in the league. This position secured participation in the UEFA Cup play-offs, which they won, beating Roda JC, Groningen, and NAC Breda. With 31 undefeated matches in a row and with a 6–0 home victory at NAC Breda the highlight of the turnaround, NEC achieved European qualification once again.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: The year became even more successful following early rounds of the UEFA Cup. In the first round, the club defeated Dinamo București over two ties. After a 1–0 home win, NEC drew 0–0 in Romania to reach the group stage. They were then drawn against Tottenham Hotspur, Udinese, Spartak Moscow, and Dinamo Zagreb. They started poorly, with defeats to both Dinamo Zagreb and Tottenham Hotspur – meaning they were bottom of the group and almost out of the competition. After a 2–1 victory against Spartak Moscow in Russia with a goal from Lasse Schöne, NEC played their last match in Nijmegen against Udinese. To advance, NEC had to win and hope that other results went their way. Tottenham were trailing at half time, while NEC were being held at 0–0. In the 74th minute, however, Tottenham scored twice to eventually draw 2–2 against Spartak and goals from Collins John and Jhon van Beukering gave NEC a 2-0 victory, and they qualified for the knockout round.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: The round of 32 of the UEFA Cup saw NEC drawn against Bundesliga side Hamburger SV. The run ended when the Germans won 3–0 in Nijmegen and 1–0 in Hamburg. NEC supporters were subsequently complimented in Europe by Franz Beckenbauer, who said he had never witnessed such great support from away supporters.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: At the end of the 2013–14 season, NEC prevented automatic relegation by holding Ajax to a 2–2 draw in Amsterdam on the last matchday with a brace from Alireza Jahanbakhsh. However, in the following relegation play-offs, NEC lost 4–1 on aggregate to Eerste Divisie's 16th placed Sparta Rotterdam and was relegated to the second tier of Dutch football, ending a 20 year run in the top flight.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: They bounced back however at the first attempt after beating Sparta 1–0 on 3 April 2015 to clinch the Eerste Divisie title with six games left. On 28 May 2017, NEC faced relegation again after two years in the Eredivisie after losing 5–1 on aggregate against NAC Breda.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: They reached the promotion play-offs in both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, but lost in the semi-finals on both occasions to FC Emmen and RKC Waalwijk. For the 2019–20 season, the club took the ususual step of appointing three head coaches: Adrie Bogers, Rogier Meijer and Francois Gesthuizen – the club finished in eighth place, which would have granted them a place in the play-offs, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, there was no promotion or relegation between Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: In May 2021, the club once again achieved promotion to the Eredivisie after beating NAC Breda 2–1 in the final of the promotion/relegation play-offs.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: In the early years of NEC's existence, the club played at various grounds around the city, most notably at Hazenkampseweg.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: The club's current home, Goffertstadion, was opened in 1939 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. It had been constructed by thousands of the city's unemployed, during a time of compulsory employment. At the time of its completion it was the third highest capacity stadium in the Netherlands, after Ajax's Olympic Stadium and De Kuip in Rotterdam.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: The Gofferstadion was a project by the municipal council, but upon completion both local clubs Quick 1888 and NEC refused to play there, as both had their own stadiums and did not want to pay rent for De Goffert. It therefore took until 1942 for the first match to be played, after NEC’s home ground was damaged during the Second World War and the club permanently moved to the Goffert.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: In 1992 the club purchased the stadium from the municipal council for the symbolic sum of 1 guilder. The stadium was renovated in the late 1990s, with an increased capacity of 12,500, opening with a friendly match between NEC and RSC Anderlecht, which the home side won 3-1.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: On October 17, 2021, part of the stadium collapsed after a match between NEC and rivals Vitesse. Nobody was seriously injured.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: Upon the merger of NVV and Eendracht, the club played in black shirts with a green and red band across the chest. However the club's traditional shirt is known as the "Balkenshirt", consisting of a red shirt with a green chestband with black trim. During the 2000s, other variations of the club's colours were worn, such as a quartered design in 2004–05 and various half-and-half designs. In 2016 NEC's board allowed a fan vote on whether to restore the classic chest band, which passed with a slim majority.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: Vitesse are NEC's archrivals. The two clubs share a long history together and they contest the Gelderse Derby (Derby of Gelderland), a confrontation between the two largest cities of the province of Gelderland, Arnhem and Nijmegen, two cities with major differences in attitude and culture. Since 1813, Arnhem has been the capital of Gelderland and is historically based on finance and trade, perceived as an office city with modern buildings. Nijmegen, on the other hand, is predominantly a workers' city, with middle and high-income groups in the minority.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: The two cities are just 24 kilometers apart, resulting in an intense crosstown rivalry. The meeting between the two teams is still considered to be one of the biggest matches of the season.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: De Graafschap are also considered a rival, and games between them are known as the "Kleine Gelderse Derby" (Little Gelderland Derby) but these matches are not as loaded with the tension and rivalry of those with Vitesse.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: Since 2007, the club's mascot has been Bikkel, a Roman legionary, with a sword and shield, a reference to the Roman history of the city of Nijmegen. The name Bikkel reportedly refers to the nickname given to former player and coach Ron de Groot, who spent his whole career at the club.


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: "The following players were called-up to represent their national teams in international football and received caps during their tenure with N.E.C.:


title: NEC Nijmegen

text: Below is a table with NEC's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1955.


title: Google Play Games

text: Google Play Games is a multi-platform gaming experience built and operated by Google featuring seamless gameplay across PCs, Chromebooks and mobile devices.


title: Google Play Games

text: Google Play Games for PC Beta launched in 2022 with a curated set of Android games optimized for PCs & Chromebooks. Google Play Games on mobile features instant play, gamer profiles, and achievements. The user gamer profile syncs across Google Play Games on PCs and mobile devices.


title: Google Play Games

text: The Google Play Games service was introduced at the Google I/O 2013 Developer Conference, and the standalone Google Play Games mobile app was launched for Android on July 24, 2013. Andrew Webster of "The Verge" compared Google Play Games to Game Center, a similar gaming network for users of Apple Inc.'s own iOS operating system.


title: Google Play Games

text: Google Play Games has received updates over the years since its launch, including a screen-recording feature, custom gamer IDs, built-in games, and an arcade for game discovery.


title: Google Play Games

text: Real-time and turn-based multiplayer services have been deprecated since September 16, 2019. Support for these API functions ended on March 31, 2020.


title: Google Play Games

text: On December 9, 2021 at The Game Awards, Google announced that Google Play Games beta would launch in early 2022, bringing Android games to Windows PCs and laptops. On January 19, 2022, Google Play Games officially rolled out a beta experience of the product with a select catalog of games to a waitlist of users in Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The beta rollout continued on August 25, 2022 by making Google Play Games beta available for download to all players in Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia with an expanded catalog of game titles.


title: Google Play Games

text: On November 2, 2022, global expansion of Google Play Games beta continued and launched to all users in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.


title: Google Play Games

text: The minimum specification requirements to run Google Play Games are currently for players who have a PC running Windows 10 or later with an integrated graphics card & quad-core CPU that can access Google Play Games beta (previously octo-core CPU).


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Peptidoglycan or murein is a unique large macromolecule, a polysaccharide, consisting of sugars and amino acids that forms a mesh-like peptidoglycan layer outside the plasma membrane, the rigid cell wall (murein sacculus) characteristic of most bacteria (domain "Bacteria"). The sugar component consists of alternating residues of β-(1,4) linked "N"-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and "N"-acetylmuramic acid (NAM). Attached to the "N"-acetylmuramic acid is a oligopeptide chain made of three to five amino acids. The peptide chain can be cross-linked to the peptide chain of another strand forming the 3D mesh-like layer. Peptidoglycan serves a structural role in the bacterial cell wall, giving structural strength, as well as counteracting the osmotic pressure of the cytoplasm. This repetitive linking results in a dense peptidoglycan layer which is critical for maintaining cell form and withstanding high osmotic pressures, and it is regularly replaced by peptidoglycan production. Peptidoglycan hydrolysis and synthesis are two processes that must occur in order for cells to grow and multiply, a technique carried out in three stages: clipping of current material, insertion of new material, and re-crosslinking of existing material to new material.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: The peptidoglycan layer is substantially thicker in Gram-positive bacteria (20 to 80 nanometers) than in Gram-negative bacteria (7 to 8 nanometers). Depending on pH growth conditions, the peptidoglycan forms around 40 to 90% of the cell wall's dry weight of Gram-positive bacteria but only around 10% of Gram-negative strains. Thus, presence of high levels of peptidoglycan is the primary determinant of the characterisation of bacteria as Gram-positive. In Gram-positive strains, it is important in attachment roles and serotyping purposes. For both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, particles of approximately 2 nm can pass through the peptidoglycan.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: It is difficult to tell whether an organism is gram-positive or gram-negative using a microscope; Gram staining, created by Hans Christian Gram in 1884, is required. The bacteria are stained with several dyes such as crystal violet, iodine alcohol, and safranin using the gram staining procedure. Gram positive cells are purple after staining, while Gram negative cells are red.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: The peptidoglycan layer in the bacterial cell wall is a crystal lattice structure formed from linear chains of two alternating amino sugars, namely "N"-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc or NAGA) and "N"-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc or NAMA). The alternating sugars are connected by a β-(1,4)-glycosidic bond. Each MurNAc is attached to a short (4- to 5-residue) amino acid chain, containing -alanine, -glutamic acid, "meso"-diaminopimelic acid, and -alanine in the case of "Escherichia coli" (a Gram-negative bacterium) or -alanine, -glutamine, -lysine, and -alanine with a 5-glycine interbridge between tetrapeptides in the case of "Staphylococcus aureus" (a Gram-positive bacterium). Peptidoglycan is one of the most important sources of D-amino acids in nature.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: By enclosing the inner membrane, the peptididoglycan layer protects the cell from lysis caused by the turgor pressure of the cell. When the cell wall grows, it retains its shape throughout its life, so a rod shape will remain a rod shape, and a spherical shape will remain a spherical shape for life. This happens because the freshly added septal material of synthesis transforms into a hemispherical wall for the offspring cells.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Cross-linking between amino acids in different linear amino sugar chains occurs with the help of the enzyme DD-transpeptidase and results in a 3-dimensional structure that is strong and rigid. The specific amino acid sequence and molecular structure vary with the bacterial species.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: The different peptidoglycan types of bacterial cell walls and their taxonomic implications have been described. Archaea (domain "Archaea") do not contain peptidoglycan (murein). Some Archaea contain pseudopeptidoglycan (pseudomurein, see below).


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Peptidoglycan is involved in binary fission during bacterial cell reproduction. L-form bacteria and mycoplasmas, both lacking peptidoglycan cell walls, do not proliferate by binary fission, but by a budding mechanism.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: In the course of early evolution, the successive development of boundaries (membranes, walls) protecting first structures of life against their environment must have been essential for the formation of the first cells (cellularisation).


title: Peptidoglycan

text: The invention of rigid peptidoglycan (murein) cell walls in bacteria (domain "Bacteria") was probably the prerequisite for their survival, extensive radiation and colonisation of virtually all habitats of the geosphere and hydrosphere.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: The peptidoglycan monomers are synthesized in the cytosol and are then attached to a membrane carrier bactoprenol. Bactoprenol transports peptidoglycan monomers across the cell membrane where they are inserted into the existing peptidoglycan.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Stage two occurs in the cytoplasmic membrane. It is in the membrane where a lipid carrier called bactoprenol carries peptidoglycan precursors through the cell membrane.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Some antibacterial drugs such as penicillin interfere with the production of peptidoglycan by binding to bacterial enzymes known as penicillin-binding proteins or DD-transpeptidases. Penicillin-binding proteins form the bonds between oligopeptide crosslinks in peptidoglycan. For a bacterial cell to reproduce through binary fission, more than a million peptidoglycan subunits (NAM-NAG+oligopeptide) must be attached to existing subunits. Mutations in genes coding for transpeptidases that lead to reduced interactions with an antibiotic are a significant source of emerging antibiotic resistance. Since peptidoglycan is also lacking in L-form bacteria and in mycoplasmas, both are resistant against penicillin.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Other steps of peptidoglycan synthesis can also be targeted. The topical antibiotic bacitracin targets the utilization of C55-isoprenyl pyrophosphate. Lantibiotics, which includes the food preservative nisin, attack lipid II.


title: Peptidoglycan

text: Lysozyme, which is found in tears and constitutes part of the body's innate immune system exerts its antibacterial effect by breaking the β-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds in peptidoglycan (see above).


title: Peptidoglycan

text: In some archaea, i.e. members of the Methanobacteriales and in the genus Methanopyrus, pseudopeptidoglycan (pseudomurein) has been found. In pseudopeptidoglycan the sugar residues are β-(1,3) linked "N"-acetylglucosamine and "N"-acetyltalosaminuronic acid. This makes the cell walls of such archaea insensitive to lysozyme. The biosynthesis of pseudopeptidoglycan has been described.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case of the disease in New Zealand was reported on 28 February 2020. , the country has had a total of 2,062,384 cases (2,027,981 confirmed and 34,403 probable). 2,288 people have died as a result of the virus, with cases recorded in all twenty district health board (DHB) areas. The pandemic first peaked in early April 2020, with 89 new cases recorded per day and 929 active cases. Cases peaked again in October 2021 with 134 new cases reported on 22 October. A total of 7,274,347 COVID tests have been carried out as of 28 June 2022.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In response to the first outbreak in late February 2020, the New Zealand Government closed the country's borders and imposed lockdown restrictions. A four-tier alert level system was introduced on 21 March 2020 to manage the outbreak within New Zealand. Since then, after a two-month nationwide lockdown, from 26 March to 27 May 2020, regionalised alert level changes have been used, where the Auckland Region has entered lockdown twice, in August–September 2020 and February–March 2021. The country then went for several months without any community transmission, with all cases restricted to the managed isolation system.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In August 2021, New Zealand entered nationwide lockdown due to a case of community transmission in Auckland of the Delta variant, with subsequent community cases in Auckland and Wellington. Due to rising cases nationwide, the Government abandoned its elimination strategy while accelerating the country's vaccination rollout. Auckland remained in a form of lockdown until 3 December 2021 when the new COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system") came into effect. Between February and May 2022, the Government gradually eased border restrictions, public gathering limits, and vaccine mandate requirements. In September 2022, the Government ended the COVID-19 Protection Framework, lifting the remaining vaccine mandates and mask requirements.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was the cause of a respiratory illness (coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19), found in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China, which had been reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: but the transmission has reportedly been significantly greater, according to a statement by Prof. Azra Ghani from MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, Imperial College of London, a World Health Organization collaborating centre.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 28 February 2020, New Zealand confirmed its first case, a woman in her 60s who had recently visited Iran The country confirmed its second case on 4 March, a woman who had recently returned from northern Italy. The number of cases continued to rise significantly through March 2020, reaching a total of 647 (600 confirmed and 47 probable) and 74 recoveries by 31 March.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 29 March, New Zealand also reported its first coronavirus-related death, a woman in her 70s from the West Coast region.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 5 April 2020, the first ethnicity statistics were released; indicating that 74% of those who had contracted COVID-19 were Pākehā, 8.3% Asian, 7.6% Māori, and 3.3% Pasifika. By 31 July, the total number of cases had reached 1,560, the total number of recovered had risen to 1,518, while the death toll had risen to 22.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following 102 days of no community transmissions, four such cases were reported in Auckland on 11 August 2020, putting the city back into lockdown. According to 1 News, Pacific Islanders made up 75% of the cases in the August community outbreak in Auckland. By 5 September, the national death toll had reached 24 with the death of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Joe Williams.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Apart from some community cases, most cases reported in New Zealand during the second half of 2020 were reported at the border. By 31 December 2020, there were a total of 2,162 cases; 2,082 recoveries, and 25 deaths in New Zealand.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 25 January 2021, New Zealand identified its first community spread case of COVID-19 since November 2020 on Sunday after a 56-year-old woman tested positive for the coronavirus strain that is thought to have originated in South Africa. On 14 February, three community transmission cases were reported within a family in Papatoetoe, Auckland. Apart from some community cases, most recorded cases in New Zealand occurred at the border prior to August 2021. By 30 July 2021, the total number of cases had reached 2,870; the total number of recoveries had reached 2,799 while the death toll had reached 26.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 17 August 2021, the Ministry of Health announced one new community case of COVID-19 in Auckland. In response, the Government moved the country into Alert Level 4 effective 11.59pm 17 August 2021. By 19 August the number of community cases had reached 21, with most being from the Delta variant. Following the August 2021 outbreak in Auckland, the number of both community and border cases in New Zealand rose substantially, reaching a total of 14,118 cases by 31 December 2021. The total number of recoveries also reached to 12,870 while the death toll rose to 51. On 29 December 2021, British musician Robert Etheridge (Dimension) was identified as the country's first Omicron case.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In early 2022, the total number of recorded cases rose exponentially; rising from 16,416 cases on 31 January to 100,821 on 28 February. In addition, the death toll reached 56 while the total number of recoveries reached 18,332 on 28 February 2022. Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa project leader Dion O'Neale attributed the sharp rise of reported cases in February 2022 to backlogs in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and data processing as well as the recent introduction of rapid antigen testing (RATS) for public usage.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The New Zealand Government responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic by establishing a National Health Coordination Centre (NHCC). In early February 2020, the Government barred entry to most travellers from China in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that originated Wuhan. In addition, the Government sponsored several repatriation flights for returning citizens, residents, and their family members, beginning with Wuhan in February 2020.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In response to rising cases from overseas travel and within the community, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern closed the country's borders to non-citizens and non-residents on 19 March 2020. On 21 March, the Government introduced a four-tier alert level system, which placed much of the country's population and economy into lockdown from 25 March. Due to the success of the Government's elimination strategy in reducing the spread of COVID-19, lockdown restrictions on mobility, social gatherings and economic activities were progressively lifted on 28 April, 11 May, 25 May, and 8 June. The lifting of Alert Level 1 restrictions on 8 June eliminated social distancing and lockdown restrictions but retained border restrictions. On 13 May, the Government passed the controversial COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 which empowered law enforcement to enter homes and other premises without a warrant in order to enforce lockdown restrictions.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 11 August 2020, the Government reinstated lockdown restrictions following a second outbreak of community transmissions in Auckland. Due to the reduction in community transmissions, lockdown restrictions in Auckland and the rest of New Zealand were progressively eliminated on 30 August, 23 September, and 7 October 2020. In early November, the Government required travellers entering New Zealand to book a place in managed isolation prior to travelling to the country. In mid-December 2020, the Government announced plans to establish travel bubbles with the Cook Islands and Australia in 2021.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following a community outbreak in South Auckland's Papatoetoe suburb on 14 February 2021, the Government placed an Alert Level 3 lockdown on Auckland and an Alert Level 2 lockdown over the rest of the country until 17 February. On 17 February, Auckland's lockdown was lowered to Alert Level 2 while the rest of the country reverted to Alert Level 1. On 22 February, the Government announced that Auckland would revert to Alert Level 1 on 22 February. Following new community cases that were connected to the Auckland February cluster, the Government placed an Alert Level 3 lockdown on Auckland and an Alert Level 2 lockdown over the rest of the country commencing 28 February 2021 for the next seven days.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following a new community outbreak in Auckland in August 2021, the NZ Government reinstated Alert Level 4 restrictions on 17 August 2021. Due to rising cases in Auckland and parts of the North Island, the Government abandoned its elimination strategy while accelerating the country's vaccination rollout. The "alert level system" was subsequently replaced by the COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system"), which came into force on 3 December 2021. In addition, the Government launched a COVID-19 vaccination pass system, which came into effect on 16 November 2021. On 23 November, the Government passed the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Act 2021, which provided a legal framework for the "traffic light system" and vaccine mandates for certain occupations.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 17 January 2022, the Government launched its vaccination rollout for children aged between five and 12 years. In late January, the Government also launched a three-stage plan to combat the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant based on contact tracing, testing and self-isolation. On 3 February, the Government also launched a five-stage plan to reopen New Zealand's borders throughout 2022. On 23 March, the Government eased several "traffic light" restrictions including limits on public gatherings, vaccine pass requirements, vaccine mandates for most occupations, and NZ COVID Tracer QR code scanning requirements. In May 2022, the Government also accelerated the reopening of the border for various work, visitor and student visa classes. In mid September 2022, the Government abolished the "traffic light system," ending most remaining COVID-19 mask, vaccine, and close contact isolation mandates and restrictions.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In mid October 2022, the Government scrapped several of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020's provisions including its powers to implement lockdowns, managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), border closures, vaccine passes and mandates. The Government however opted to retain the Act's provisions for seven-day isolation periods, mask use and border entry requirements until Parliament passed newer, general pandemic legislation. The Government also revoked the Epidemic Notice, signalling a shift from emergency management to long-term management of COVID-19. In addition, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed that the Government would hold a Royal Commission of Inquiry into its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: During the further outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Auckland in August 2020, genome sequencing was noted as a "new tool" in the Government's strategy to manage the pandemic. Ashley Bloomfield said "we are also doing genome sequencing on all those who have tested positive and our recent cases and current cases in managed isolation and quarantine" A phylodynamics specialist said that compared to the first outbreak when only 25 people out of approximately 1000 were sequenced, "mapping the genetic sequences of the virus from confirmed COVID-19 cases in a bid to track its spread – is now an integral part of New Zealand's coronavirus response. It is providing greater certainty in identifying clusters and helps focus the investigations of contact tracers." Bloomfield said that sequencing will provide information about how the outbreak started and Dr Jemma Geoghegan, a senior lecturer in viral evolution at the University of Otago who was working on genome sequencing with the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told Radio New Zealand:By comparing the genomes of the new cases to those from the isolation facilities as well as the global population and the other cases in New Zealand, we can begin to understand how long that chain of transmission potentially is, and likely estimate when that virus emerged and first arrived into New Zealand.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: When an Air New Zealand crew member tested positive for COVID-19 in November 2020, Dr Joel de Ligt, a scientist at ESR, said that while he was reasonably confident the sequencing had provided a good picture of what was happening across the country, there was still a slight chance that there was something in the community not identified. Specific sequencing of the genomes of the air crew member would show whether it was linked to a New Zealand genome, or related to information from sequencing overseas, making it "more likely that it is what we call a travel-related infection, where we might start to look more in detail at the airports, or the airlines involved with the movements of a certain person." Geoghegan stressed the importance of genome sequencing in cases such as returning air crew, which was later used to demonstrate a case of in-flight transmission.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 20 March, the Auckland Council closed all public libraries, swimming pools, and recreational centres, including the Auckland Art Gallery and the New Zealand Maritime Museum.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 21 March, several local body councils in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Lower Hutt and Porirua announced the closures of public facilities including swimming pools, libraries, recreation centres, community centres, art galleries, and museums.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 24 March, the Auckland Council announced they were closing their campgrounds and Canterbury Regional Council announced that they would also close New Zealand Motor Caravan Association camping grounds within 48 hours.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Auckland Council announced on 14 April that it was applying for special project funding for a number of infrastructure projects that had been suspended due to lockdown.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 15 April, several Otago mayors including mayor of Dunedin Aaron Hawkins, Central Otago District mayor Tim Cadogan, Queenstown Lakes District mayor Jim Boult, Clutha District mayor Bryan Cadogan, Waitaki District mayor Gary Kircher and Otago Regional Council chair Marian Hobbs were donating part of their salaries to local charities to assist with coronavirus pandemic relief efforts. In addition, several Dunedin City Council officials including chief executive Sue Bidrose announced that they were taking pay cuts to help their local communities cope with the effects of COVID-19.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 10 July, the Auckland Council announced that it was going to eliminate 500 permanent jobs as a result of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 27 August, Auckland councillor Efeso Collins called for the Government to grant an amnesty to people who had overstayed their visas in order to encourage members of the Pasifika community to come forward for COVID-19 tests. The Health Minister Chris Hipkins has reassured the Pasifika community that the Government would not use any information collected during testing for immigration purposes. Collins urged Pacific community leaders, church leaders and health professionals to encourage overstayers to get tested for COVID-19 without fear of repercussions.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 12 November, Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff and local health authorities have urged people in the Auckland CBD area to work from home after the discovery of a community transmission case who worked at the A-Z Collections shop on Auckland's High St in the city centre. Goff also criticised the store's owner for allegedly telling the employee to come to work while she was awaiting test results for her COVID-19 test. The store owner disputed Goff's account, explaining that the employee had called on Tuesday to say she had a sore throat and would be visiting a doctor. The following day, the shop worker issued a statement criticising health officials who interviewed her for not providing a Chinese language translator, causing misinformation about her prior whereabouts, actions, and contacts. As a result of this miscommunication, her employer and their families had received abusive online messages.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 2 November 2021, Far North District Mayor John Carter supported the Government's decision to impose a Level 3 lockdown in the northern part of the Northland Region following two undetected cases. He urged people to get tested and vaccinated.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 19 March, the medical recruitment company MedWorld appealed for retired and part-time doctors to assist efforts by the health sector and Government to combat the spread of COVID-19.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 10 June, St John New Zealand, which provides ambulance and first aid services, announced that it would be laying off staff due to a $30 million deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The organisation had also tried to apply for the Government's wage subsidy scheme but was told that it was not eligible for it despite a 40% drop in income.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 27 August, Pasifika GP Network member Dr Api Talemaitoga announced that the Government's Testing Strategy Group would seek to ensure that members of the Māori and Pasifika communities would have fair access to testing. These measures include offering free testing, mobile testing centers and clinicians who could translate. Health authorities have also sought to reassure members of these communities that they would not lose their jobs due to contracting COVID-19.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following the Delta community outbreak in mid–August 2021, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) expressed concerned about the mental and physical health of nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants; insufficient PPE supplies and a lack of mask fit-testing. In mid-September 2021, the NZNO challenged the Auckland District Health Board's "free-for-all" visitor policy through the Employment Relations Authority. The NZNO argued that the Health Board's policy of allowing two visitors during the Delta outbreak posed a health risk to patients and staff.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In October 2021, Pharmac negotiated an agreement with supplier Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) to purchase the experimental antiviral pill molnupiravir. If approved by Medsafe, Pharmac will be supplied with 60,000 courses of the pill, which would be used to treat New Zealanders with mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms. In November, Pharmac secured 500 doses of baricitinib, an oral tablet that improves outcomes for hospitalised patients and purchased Ronapreve (also known as Regeneron), a monoclonal antibody.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: From September 2021, the Ministry of Health began allocating funding to district health boards to the Support in Isolation/Quarantine (SIQ) programme with the goal of establishing local quarantine facilities to accommodate those who could not isolate at home in " community-based bubbles." The SIQ programme was established in response to rising community cases and plans to reopen the border in 2022. New Zealand has announced a progressive reopening of its borders as it begins to ease some of the world's most stringent Covid regulations. Vaccinated Australian nationals will be able to return home on 27 February without having to go through the state's required hotel quarantine. Jabbed nationals from other countries will be allowed in starting 13 March, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. People will still be required to self-isolate for 10 days, but they will be able to do so at home.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In mid October 2021, the Health Ministry allocated NZ$120,000 to the Wairarapa District Health Board to establish local SIQ facilities. In addition, other district health boards including the Taranaki District Health Board, the Auckland District Health Board, the Southern District Health Board, and the Whanganui District Health Board have made preparations to establish their own SIQ facilities at various repurposed hotels and holiday parks.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 17 February 2022, laboratory workers, contact tracers and other critical health staff affiliated with the Public Service Association (PSA) voted to reject a pay offer from the district health boards and to strike twice in March 2022. The workers have demanded higher pay, equal treatment with other health professions, and safe staffing and retention. Union spokesperson Will Matthews stated that the planned strikes came after 15 months of failed negotiations with the district health boards. In mid-February 2022, the Institute of Medical Laboratory Science, the national representative body for laboratory workers, reported that many workers were burnt out from operating under poor conditions for the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers complained about insufficient office and recreation space due to extra testing machinery within their laboratories.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In mid-May 2022, 10,000 allied health workers went on strike across New Zealand following failed negotiations with DHBs over pay and working conditions. The PSA's strike action was supported by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), the New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA) and the NZ Council of Trade Unions (CTU).


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In early June 2022, the Dunedin Public Hospital was closed to visitors following an outbreak of COVID-19 within its wards.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Up until March 2020, New Zealand ran a mixed economy – a free market with some state ownership and control.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Although somewhat abruptly sidelined from their normal influence within the New Zealand economy, representatives of the business sector continued to feature in media reporting: lobbying against perceived discrepancies in various industries,


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 17 September 2020, New Zealand economy officially entered into a recession, with the country's gross domestic product contracting by 12.2% in the June quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The retail, accommodation, hospitality, and transportation sectors were adversely affected by the international travel ban and a strict nationwide lockdown.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on New Zealand society, with significant implications for education, faith communities, holidays, Māori, mass gatherings, sports and recreational activities. Reports about the spread of COVID-19 led to a demand for face masks and hand sanitisers, as well as panic buying at supermarkets.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following the spread of COVID-19 at several schools, the Government closed all schools, early childhood centers and universities on 23 March 2020 as part of the implementation of a nationwide lockdown. In addition, on 13 May, the end-of-year high school National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) external exams were postponed to mid November 2020. Several universities drew criticism for continuing to charge rent to students who had returned home to their families.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In response to the entry of COVID-19 into New Zealand, several faith communities announced that they would be suspending or reducing public gatherings in responds to the Government's ban on gatherings with more than 100 people. Due to the closure of butcheries under Alert Level 4, members of the Muslim community faced difficulty accessing halal food. When the lockdown level was first lowered to Alert Level 2 on 14 May, religious gatherings were initially limited to ten persons, which drew criticism from the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ), Catholic bishops, and Bishop Brian Tamaki of Destiny Church. Following criticism, the Government raised the limit on religious services from ten to 100 persons, allowing many faith communities to resume mass gatherings. In September 2020, Christian leaders Pacific Response Coordination Team chairman Pakilau Manase Lua and Wesleyan Methodist minister Frank Ritchie expressed concern about misinformation relating to COVID-19 circulating among New Zealand congregants attending churches with links to conservative evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the United States.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Māori communities in the Northland, East Cape, and Bay of Plenty regions of the North Island established road blocks to limit the spread of the virus. These checkpoints generated some communal tensions and were considered unauthorised by the Government and New Zealand Police, which challenged their authority. Following a new community outbreak in Auckland in late January 2021, Northland Māori including Reuben Taipari and veteran politician Hone Harawira established an unauthorised checkpoint, which was shut down by the police.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mass gatherings were discouraged to comply with social distancing measures to combat the virus. In response, the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association suspended all ANZAC Day service and red poppy collections for 2020. Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, which sparked global protests, Black Lives Matter protests were held in several major centers including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in early June 2020. These protests were criticised by several health and political figures including Siouxsie Wiles, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, and ACT Party leader David Seymour for flouting social distancing restrictions. In addition, anti-lockdown protests occurred between August and September 2020.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Due to border and social distancing restrictions caused by COVID-19, several sports and recreational events including the Super Rugby season and the 2020 Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow were suspended in mid-March 2020.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following a new community outbreak in South Auckland in mid February 2021, the Halberg Awards were postponed to comply with Alert Level 3 restrictions on mass gatherings. In addition, Napier's Art Deco Festival and Auckland's Gay Pride parade were cancelled. Auckland's Splore festival was postponed to 26–28 March 2021.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In February 2022, on the grounds of New Zealand's parliament, police gave trespass notices to anti-vaccine protestors who had spent two nights illegally camped. More than 50 were arrested.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Left-wing blogger Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury has advocated that the Government declare an amnesty for overstayers and provide compensation payments to people unable to work from home in order to help the Pacific Islander communities in South Auckland.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on travel to and from New Zealand. In 2020, the New Zealand Government worked with airlines and tour agencies to repatriate New Zealanders stranded at various overseas locations including China, Peru, Australia, Uruguay, Fiji, and India. On 24 March, the Foreign Minister Winston Peters estimated there were 80,000 New Zealanders stranded overseas, of whom 17,000 had registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's "Safe Travel" programme. Following a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in India in April 2021, many New Zealand citizens and temporary visa holders living there were stranded due to border restrictions and flight cancellations.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The COVID-19 pandemic also affected many foreign travellers and temporary visa holders in New Zealand. Due to travel restrictions caused by COVID-19, the New Zealand Government automatically extended all temporary visas until 25 September 2020, which was later extended to February 2021. In addition, the Government also extended emergency welfare support including financial support for living expenses to stranded migrant workers and other temporary visa holders unable to leave New Zealand. Despite border restrictions, the Government granted visa exemptions for certain critical and essential workers as well as people attending the trial of the Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant and a British family seeking to sell their yacht following the death of their son.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Several foreign governments including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark also organised charter flights to repatriate citizens stranded in New Zealand. In addition, international airlines like Lufthansa and Qatar Airways were also involved in facilitating repatriation flights from New Zealand. By 13 May, Foreign Minister Peters confirmed that 50,000 migrant workers had returned to their home countries following efforts by the New Zealand Government and foreign embassies to organise repatriation flights.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 9 May 2021, Radio New Zealand and Stuff reported that the Government had spent NZ$6 million to repatriate New Zealanders who had been stranded overseas at various locations including Wuhan, India and Peru since the start of the pandemic. On 28 May 2021, it was also reported that the Government had spent $112,000 out of a $900,000 allocation to repatriate migrants who could not afford flight tickets back to their home countries during the pandemic. In addition, the Government had spent $11 million on attracting migrants during the pandemic. In addition, the Government had spent $242 million in February 2021 to address a deficit in immigration's visa account finances, which still left a $56 million deficit.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 11 August 2021, the Strategic Covid-19 Public Health Advisory Group led by Professor David Skegg advocated that the country should take a phased approach towards reopening its border in 2022 provided that a majority of New Zealanders had been vaccinated. Under proposed plans, travellers could avoid going into managed isolation based on risk factors such as their vaccination status and the state of the pandemic in their country of origin. Other proposals include pre-departure testing for travellers and rapid testing for travellers upon entry to New Zealand.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Following the Delta community outbreak in mid–August 2021, the Police were criticised by Northland Māori iwi and leaders including former politician Hone Harawira for waiting more than a week to erect fixed checkpoints between Northland and Auckland after the country moved into an Alert Level 4 lockdown. The Level 4 announcement on 17 August had triggered an influx of people from Auckland into the Northland region. Other Northland residents criticised inconsistency in the location of Police checkpoints near the Brynderwyn Hills, Kaiwaka and Mangawhai which inhibited travel by residents to access essential services like groceries.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the Government delayed the planned reopening of the country's border to February 2022, boosted pre-departure test requirements, and extended the stay at managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities by ten days.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Under this arrangement, vaccinated New Zealanders and eligible travellers would be able to go into self-isolation and undergo testing on arrival rather than having to go into MIQ facilities. Unvaccinated travellers would still be required to go into MIQ facilities.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 28 February 2022, the New Zealand Government further accelerated the reopening of the country's borders:


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 3 May 2022, the Government eased travel restrictions to allow unvaccinated visa holders, permanent residents, and Australian citizens residing in New Zealand to enter the country without undergoing managed isolation. In mid-May, the Government accelerated the reopening of New Zealand's borders:


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 8 September 2020, the Secretary-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Adhanom praised New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic alongside several other countries including Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, and Vietnam.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 28 October, Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson criticised Prime Minister Ardern's requirement that people undergoing managed isolation quarantine be tested as a condition for leaving on Fox News's "The Ingraham Angle" while the show's host Laura Ingraham likened MIQ facilities to coronavirus "quarantine camps". Hanson and Ingraham drew coverage from New Zealand media commentators including "The Spinoff" Alex Braee, who compared their remarks to former United Kingdom Independence Party politician Suzanne Evans' remarks likening New Zealand's lockdown policies to Nazi Germany. Newshub's Jamie Ensor responded that Ingraham's comments lacked context, explaining that the camps were actually lavish hotels and motels.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 4 May 2020, a High Court judge allowed a man who had travelled from the United Kingdom to visit his dying father, overruling the Government's strict lockdown orders including a 14-day quarantine period for all overseas travellers. In response, Prime Minister Ardern asked Health Minister David Clark to review 24 cases where health authorities blocked requests by individuals to see their dying relatives on health grounds. As a result of the Government's review, a woman was granted exemption from the mandatory 14-day quarantine to visit her 59 year old terminally ill mother.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 19 August, the Wellington High Court ruled that the Government's message to stay at home at the start of the Alert Level 4 lockdown for nine days between 26 March and 3 April was justified but unlawful and contrary to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. A law change on 3 April made the lockdown legal. The High Court's ruling had come in response to a legal challenge mounted by lawyer Andrew Borrowdale. The Attorney General David Parker has defended the Government's handling of the lockdown and not ruled out an appeal against the ruling.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 12 October 2020, the New Zealand Government signed an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to buy 1.5 million COVID-19 batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, the Government established a fund of $66.3 million to support a COVID-19 immunisation programme.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 3 February 2021, the Government formally authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in New Zealand. The vaccine will be limited to people aged 16 years and over. On 20 February 100 nurses became the first people in New Zealand to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Healthcare workers, essential workers and those most at risk will be vaccinated in the second quarter of the year. The general population will be vaccinated in the second half of the year.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 16 October 2021 ("Super Saturday"), an all-day nationwide vaccination telethon ("vaxathon") was held, featuring celebrity guests and health professionals in a coordinated cross-platform broadcast. The event resulted in record-breaking vaccination numbers, with over 100,000 doses being given out by 3 pm.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: An Utting Research poll conducted on 1–2 March 2020 found that 47% of respondents were satisfied with the government's overall response to the COVID-19 outbreak, with 34% unsatisfied and 19% unsure. A subsequent poll conducted on 21–22 March, prior to the lockdown announcement, found that 62% of respondents were satisfied with the response. However, 37% were not confident a large-scale outbreak could be prevented in New Zealand, with 26% confident and 36% unsure.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: A "Newshub"–Reid Research poll conducted from 8 to 16 May 2020 asked whether it was "the right call" to implement the March–April nationwide Level 4 stay-at-home order. 91.6% responded "yes", 6% "no" and 2.5% "don't know".


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 9 August 2020, a Horizon Research poll found that trust in the Ministry of Health and Government's ability to manage the COVID-19 pandemic was 82%, down from 91% in April 2020. The poll also found that 64% of New Zealanders still "totally" trusted the Government and Ministry of Health, down from 75% in April.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: A poll by Stickybeak for "The Spinoff" on 16–17 February 2021 found that 79% of people rated the government's response as "excellent" or "good" overall while 12% of people rated it "bad" or "terrible". Similarly, 79% of people approved of the decision to move Auckland to Alert Level 3 on 14 February while 12% opposed, and 67% supported moving the rest of the country to Level 2 while 19% opposed.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: An 18–22 August 2021 poll by Stickybeak for the Spinoff found that 84% of people supported the decision to move to Alert Level 4 on 17 August, with 10% opposed. Of the 84%, 72% of people strongly supported the decision. Overall, 79% of people supported the government's response to the virus while 12% opposed; these values are unchanged from their February poll.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In early August the New Zealand government locked down the country in an attempt to stop the Delta Variant, while initially supportive of the governments response, public opinion declined significantly as the lockdown continued and the government initially refused to give up on its elimination strategy. An October poll found In November 2021, polling showed that support for both the government and trust in its response had dropped in-part due to the ongoing lockdown to stop the Delta Variant.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Between 17 and 28 November 2022, "The New Zealand Herald" commissioned two polls by polling company Dynata, which both surveyed a thousand people. The first survey found that 51% of respondents thought that New Zealand's COVID-19 response had divided the country while 37% though that the COVID-19 response had unified the country. The second survey found that 57% of respondents thought that New Zealand's response to COVID-19 had been "well-judged and appropriate." By contrast, 25% disagreed while 18% were undecided on the matter.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: An October 2021 Talbot Mills poll found that support for workplace vaccine mandates was at 79% for health workers, 76% for people travelling overseas, 72% for teachers, 71% for hospitality workers, and 70% for supermarket staff and domestic travellers. A November 2021 1 News–Colmar Brunton poll found that 74% of respondents supported the workplace vaccine mandates currently in place, with 20% opposed.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The New Zealand Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was covered by both national and international media, which praised Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's leadership and swift response to the outbreak. "The Washington Post" Fifield described her regular use of interviews, press conferences and social media as a "masterclass in crisis communication." In addition, Alastair Campbell, a journalist and adviser in Tony Blair's British government, commended Ardern for addressing both the human and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Following the 2020 New Zealand general election, "The Observer" Roy and Graham-McLay attributed the Sixth Labour Government's landslide election victory to Ardern's "deft handling" of the COVID-19 pandemic and "resolute belief" in science and experts.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Due to the large viewing of the daily 1 pm press briefings, the actions of and lines of questioning from journalists came under scrutiny from the public, with many criticising repetitive or aggressive lines of questioning and "gotcha" accusations. Stuff journalist Thomas Coughlan replied that the criticism "seemed to come from nowhere" and these actions are "really the way it's always been", saying that the methodology has only come into question due to the large viewership of the press conferences. Television producer Robyn Patterson, writing for "Newsroom", commented that the "aggressive stance of some local journalists ... is leading to a public backlash", which "elevates the anxiety levels of an already distressed public and creates deep unease". She noted that a 2019 Griffith University study of journalistic best practice recommended that journalists consider the needs of those impacted by disastrous events or else they risk causing more harm than good.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In late April 2021, Bloomberg's COVID Resilience Ranking ranked New Zealand as the second best place to be during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving a score of 79.6. Slower vaccination rates had caused the country to drop in the ranking by 0.1 points. Singapore ranked first at that time in the COVID Resilience Ranking, with a score of 79.7.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In April 2020, the New Zealand Treasury projected that the country could experience an unemployment rate of 13.5% if the country remained in lockdown for four weeks, with a range of between 17.5% and 26% if the lockdown was extended. Prior to the lockdown, the unemployment rate was at 4.2%. Finance Minister Grant Robertson vowed that the Government would keep the unemployment rate below 10%.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In the second quarter of 2020, unemployment fell 0.2 percentage points to 4 percent; however, the under-utilization rate (a measure of spare capacity in the labor market) rose to a record 12 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous quarter, and working hours fell by 10 percent.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: National GDP contracted 1.6% in the first quarter of 2020. The country officially entered a recession in September after Statistics New Zealand reported a GDP contraction of 12.2% in the second quarter of 2020. The second-quarter contraction was led by a 47.4% contraction in accommodation and food and beverage services, a 38.7% contraction in transport, postal and warehousing, and a 25.8% contraction in construction. GDP rebounded 14.0% in the third quarter of 2020.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 3 November 2021, Statistics New Zealand reported that the unemployment rate had dropped to 3.4% despite the effects of COVID-19, the lowest rate recorded since the organisation started reporting it.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Between March 2020 and December 2021, New Zealand operated on a four-tier alert level system, with levels 3 and 4 being forms of lockdown. In level 1 there are no domestic restrictions; in level 2 there are limits on gatherings; in level 3 only purposeful travel is allowed and there are strict limits on gatherings; and in level 4 only essential travel is allowed and gatherings are banned.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 15 October 2021, Ardern announced that the alert level system would soon be dropped in favour of a "traffic light" system, officially called the COVID-19 Protection Framework. This three-tier system uses vaccination rates to determine the level of restrictions needed. She initially stated that the system would be adopted nationwide once all DHBs reach the milestone of 90% of the eligible population being fully vaccinated and will occur in the Auckland Region once its three DHBs achieve 90%.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: However, on 22 November, Ardern stated that the 90% target would not have to be met, confirming that New Zealand would enter the "traffic light system" on 3 December, replacing the previous alert level system. Auckland and areas with low vaccination start on the Red setting while the rest of the country starts on the Orange setting.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The three levels are Red when the health care system is at risk of being overloaded, Orange when there is pressure on the health care system, and Green when hospitalisation levels are manageable.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: A bubble is defined as a group of people with whom one has close physical contact. People in a bubble do not have to practise social distancing from one another. The entire bubble counts as one household.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In early March 2020, there were concerns about COVID-19 tests being given only to people with symptoms who had returned from impacted countries or people who had been in contact with a confirmed case. Some people with symptoms but who did not fit these categories were not tested. In April the New Zealand Microbiology Network recommended that transfers into or between aged care providers should not be tested, a position they maintained despite an outbreak in care facilities and calls for screening tests from E Tū union and the Aged Care Association.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The case definition for qualifying for a COVID-19 test is having "any acute respiratory infection with at least one of the following symptoms: cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, coryza, [or] anosmia with or without fever."


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The previous case definition for testing from 14 March to 3 April was meeting at least one of the following criteria:


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: For cases not fitting this case definition doctors are encouraged to use their own judgement whether to test the patient or not.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 18 August, Newshub reported that a senior quarantine official had revealed that quarantine workers had requested a regular testing "regime" multiple times but their concerns were ignored. While Prime Minister Ardern had initially claimed that some workers were reluctant, Health Minister Chris Hipkins acknowledged that he was aware that the testing of border staff was incomplete during a briefing, stating that "they should not have been declined tests." Opposition Leader Judith Collins criticised the Government's handling of the issue.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 9 July 2021, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins admitted that half of pre-departure tests were checked due to "capacity constraints." Stuff had reported that more than 20 people had arrived in the country from Australia without the mandated pre-departure test including one who had recently visited New South Wales.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 26 August 2021, community health provider Whānau Waipareira began rolling out saliva testing among its 250 staff in Auckland and Wellington. The group's chief executive officer John Tamihere also confirmed that there were plans to extend them to the public as an alternative to the more common nasal swab tests being used by health providers.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: In early September 2021, Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed that the Government had plans to expand saliva testing at Auckland's Level 4 border crossing following months of delays in rolling out the service to border and essential workers. This announcement followed Yale University research scientist and saliva testing advocate Dr. Anne Wyllie's criticism of the saliva testing provider Asia Pacific Healthcare Group's testing methods.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: By 28 February 2022, the Health Ministry confirmed that New Zealand has received 14 million rapid antigen test (RATS) kits. These kits will be shipped to community testing centres, general practitioners, and pharmacies right across New Zealand. Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall also confirmed that the Government had ordered 180 million RATS kits for the next six months.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: there have been 4,664,080 tests completed in total, including 401,966 tests in managed isolation facilities, with a positivity rate of .


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The ethnic group with the highest rate of testing was Pacific, with a rate of 170.2 tests per 100 people, followed by Asian with 97.1, Māori with 83.1 per 100, and finally European/MELAA/Other with 80.4 per 100, out of 4,664,080 people in total, or the equivalent of of the New Zealand population of 5,126,300.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Starting from 16 April 2020, random voluntary community testing took place in select supermarkets around the country to provide information on whether there still existed community transmission of the virus. This testing resulted in no positive results out of 1000 people by 20 April.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: On 19 March 2021, Newshub reported that scientists had traced two COVID-19 cases who had tested positive following their stay in managed in isolation to unventilated spaces in the doorway of their hotel corridor at their managed isolation facility in Christchurch.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: , New Zealand has 2,062,384 cases (2,027,981 confirmed and 34,403 probable cases) of COVID-19. Based on the national population estimate of 4,966,000 this gives the country confirmed cases per million population ( confirmed and probable cases per million population).


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: Cases have been reported in the Chatham Islands and in New Zealand's associated states (536 in Cook Islands, 1 in Niue).


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: No cases have been reported in the dependent territory of Tokelau and it is the last country or dependency to have no confirmed infections from the disease.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: During the lockdown, overall weekly deaths declined in New Zealand compared to previous years. The decline is thought to be linked to a reduction in deaths from traffic collisions, air pollution, work injuries, respiratory tract infections, and elective surgery.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: , the Ministry of Health had identified 24 significant clusters of at least ten confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: The following clusters have been closed. A cluster is considered closed when there have been no new cases for two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days) from the date when all cases complete isolation.


title: COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand

text: All 12 of the first wave (pre-2022) of Canterbury DHB deaths were cases within the Rosewood Rest Home cluster. This cluster accounted for nearly one quarter of the country's total death toll from COVID-19 prior to 2022.


title: The Last Detail

text: The Last Detail is a 1973 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby, from a screenplay by Robert Towne, based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Darryl Ponicsan. The film stars Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid, Clifton James, and Carol Kane. It follows two career sailors assigned to escort a young emotionally withdrawn recruit from their Virginia base to Portsmouth Naval Prison in Maine.


title: The Last Detail

text: "The Last Detail" was theatrically released in the United States by Columbia Pictures on December 12, 1973. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Nicholson and Quaid, as well as Towne's screenplay. It was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, three Academy Awards, and four British Academy Film Awards (winning two).


title: The Last Detail

text: On Saturday, December 15, 1973, Navy lifers Signalman First Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Gunner's Mate First Class Richard "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) are awaiting orders in Norfolk, Virginia. They are assigned a shore patrol detail escorting 18-year old Seaman Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) to Portsmouth Naval Prison near Kittery, Maine. Meadows has been court-martialed, dishonorably discharged, and sentenced to eight years in the brig for stealing $40 from a charity fund run by the wife of a senior officer. Buddusky and Mulhall are given one week to escort Meadows to Portsmouth, and if they fail to complete the task on time or let Meadows go free, they will be kicked out of the Navy and lose all benefits and pay. Despite their initial resentment of the detail, and realizing their prisoner is a kleptomaniac who steals compulsively, Billy and Mule begin to like Meadows as they escort him on a train ride through the wintry northeastern states. They decide to show him a good time before delivering him to the authorities.


title: The Last Detail

text: With several days to spare before they are due in Portsmouth, they make stops along their route to provide "bon-voyage" adventures for Meadows. In Washington, D.C., they go to a diner and order burgers, fries and milkshakes. Next they go to a bar, but they are denied drinks, as Meadows is underage and cannot provide ID. Instead they get drunk in an alley, missing their train, which forces them to stay overnight at a hotel, where they stay up all night watching TV and drinking. At the hotel, Buddusky teaches Meadows a few flag semaphore signals and tries to get the young prisoner to stick up for himself by provoking him into a fight. The next morning, they take a detour to Camden, New Jersey seeking Meadows' mother, only to find her away for the day and the house a pigsty, cluttered with empty liquor bottles. When they arrive at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, Buddusky instigates a fight with a group of Marines in a restroom, with Mulhall and Meadows eventually joining in. The older sailors later take Meadows ice skating at Rockefeller Center and go bar-hopping, where Buddusky gambles with their per diem money by playing darts with a group of bar patrons. They also encounter a group of Nichiren Buddhists chanting in an apartment building, who teach Meadows how to pray. The Buddhists invite the trio to a house party, where one of the members offers to help Meadows flee to Canada, but he declines out of loyalty to Buddusky and Mulhall. Buddusky also unsuccessfully tries to seduce a woman at the party, while Mulhall makes awkward conversation about serving in the Navy with the liberal party guests.


title: The Last Detail

text: On the train to Boston the next morning, Buddusky and Mulhall decide to take the virginal Meadows to a whorehouse. While in Boston, they flag down a cab driver, who takes them to a seedy brothel. Meadows selects a young prostitute to lose his virginity to, while Buddusky and Mulhall wait in the hallway. After an aborted first attempt where he almost immediately ejaculates, Mulhall and Buddusky pay for Meadows to have a second chance with the prostitute. Buddusky and Mulhall make conversation while waiting for Meadows, where Buddusky reminisces about his former marriage and his life prior to the Navy. The next morning, Meadows tells the other sailors that despite her profession, he thinks the young prostitute might have had romantic feelings for him.


title: The Last Detail

text: Just before they leave for Portsmouth, Meadows makes a final request for a picnic. The senior sailors buy some hot dogs and attempt a frigid barbecue in the snow at a local park, where Buddusky confides in Mulhall his concern for Meadows and the abuse that he will face at the hands of the Marines at the brig. Meadows suddenly bolts in a last-ditch effort to run away but slips on the ice and falls. Buddusky and Mulhall arrive, and Buddusky loses his temper and beats Meadows up, forcing Mulhall to restrain him.


title: The Last Detail

text: Buddusky and Mulhall take Meadows into the prison where he is marched off to be processed without a word. Although Buddusky had worried about the brutality awaiting Meadows at the hands of the Marine guards, the young duty officer (a first lieutenant wearing an Annapolis ring), berates Buddusky and Mulhall for striking Meadows. He asks if Meadows tried to resist or fight, which they deny. The Marine also notices that their orders were never officially signed by the master-at-arms in Norfolk, meaning effectively they had not left. The angry young Marine officer relents when Mulhall and Buddusky ask to speak to the XO (Executive Officer). On the way out, Buddusky admonishes the officer for forgetting to keep his copy of the paperwork.


title: The Last Detail

text: With the detail complete, the pair stride away from the prison complaining about the duty officer's incompetence. Both hope their orders will have come through when they get back to Norfolk.


title: The Last Detail

text: Producer Gerry Ayres had bought the rights to Darryl Ponicsan's novel in 1969. After returning from the set of "Drive, He Said", Robert Towne began adapting the novel. The screenwriter tailored the script for close friends Jack Nicholson and Rupert Crosse. In adapting the novel, Towne removed Buddusky's "closet intellectualism and his beautiful wife". The screenwriter also changed the ending so that Buddusky lives instead of dying as he does in the book. Ayres convinced Columbia Pictures to produce the film based on his consultant's credit on "Bonnie & Clyde" but had difficulty getting it made because of the studio's concern about the bad language in Towne's script. Peter Guber recalls, "The first seven minutes, there were 342 'fucks'". The head of Columbia asked Towne to reduce the number of curse words to which the writer responded, "This is the way people talk when they're powerless to act; they bitch". Towne refused to tone down the language and the project remained in limbo until Nicholson, by then a bankable star, got involved.


title: The Last Detail

text: Ayres sent the script to Robert Altman and then Hal Ashby. Ayres remembers, "I thought that this was a picture that required a skewed perspective, and that's what Hal had". Ashby was coming off the disappointing commercial and critical failure of "Harold and Maude" and was in pre-production on "Three Cornered Circle" at MGM when Jack Nicholson told him about "The Last Detail", his upcoming film at Columbia. The director had been sent the script in the fall of 1971, with a reader's report calling it "lengthy and unimaginative", but he personally found it very appealing.


title: The Last Detail

text: He wanted to do it but it conflicted with his schedule for "Three Cornered Circle". Ashby pulled out of his deal with MGM, and Nicholson suggested that they team up on "Last Detail". Columbia did not like Ashby because he had a reputation of distrusting authority and made little effort to communicate with executives. The $2.3 million budget was low enough for him to get approved.


title: The Last Detail

text: Nicholson was set to play Buddusky; additional casting focused mainly on the roles of Mule and Meadows. Bud Cort met with Ashby and begged to play Meadows, but the director felt that he was not right for the role. Robert Englund also auditioned for the role of Meadows. Casting director Lynn Stalmaster gave Ashby a final selection of actors, and the two that stood out were Randy Quaid and John Travolta. As originally written, the character of Meadows was a "helpless little guy", but Ashby wanted to cast Quaid, who was 6'4". He had offbeat and vulnerable qualities that Ashby wanted. Towne remembers thinking, "There's a real poignancy to this huge guy's helplessness that's great. I thought it was a fantastic choice, and I'd never thought of it." Rupert Crosse was cast as Mule. Gilda Radner was cast in her first screen role, speaking one line as a member of Nichiren Shoshu.


title: The Last Detail

text: The project stalled for 18 months while Nicholson made "The King of Marvin Gardens". Guber told Ayres that he could get Burt Reynolds, Jim Brown, and David Cassidy and a new writer, and he would approve production immediately. Ayres rejected this proposal, and the studio agreed to wait because they were afraid that the producer would take the film to another studio. Ashby and Ayres read navy publications and interviewed current and ex-servicemen who helped them correct minor errors in the script. The director wanted to shoot on location at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, and the brig at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was unable to get permission from the United States Navy. However, the Canadian Navy was willing to cooperate and in mid-August 1972, Ashby and his casting director Stalmaster traveled to Toronto, Ontario to look at a naval base and meet with actors. The base suited their needs and Ashby met Carol Kane, whom he would cast in a small role. Opening scenes of the film were not shot at a Canadian Naval Base, but rather at CFB Borden, a major training base for the Canadian Air Force & Army.


title: The Last Detail

text: Ashby was busted for possession of marijuana while scouting locations in Canada. This almost changed the studio's mind about backing the project, but the director's drug bust was not widely reported and Nicholson remained fiercely loyal to him, which was a deciding factor. Just as the film was about to go into production, Crosse was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Ashby postponed principal photography for a week to allow Crosse to deal with the news and decide if he still wanted to do the film. The actor decided not to do the film, and Ashby and Stalmaster scrambled to find a replacement. They cast Otis Young.


title: The Last Detail

text: Ashby decided to shoot the film chronologically in order to help the inexperienced Quaid and recently cast Young ease into their characters. With the exception of Toronto doubling as Norfolk, the production shot on location, making the same journey as the three main characters. Early on, Quaid was very nervous and wanted to make a good impression. Ashby kept a close eye on the actor but allowed him to develop into the role. Haskell Wexler was supposed to shoot "The Last Detail", but he could not get a union card for an East Coast production. Ashby asked Nestor Almendros and Gordon Willis but they were both unavailable.


title: The Last Detail

text: Ashby promoted Michael Chapman, his camera operator on "The Landlord", to director of photography. They worked together to create a specific look for the film that involved using natural light to create a realistic, documentary style. Ashby let Nicholson look through the camera's viewfinder as a shot was being set up so he knew the parameters of a given scene and how much freedom he had within the frame. The actor said, "Hal is the first director to let me go, to let me find my own level".


title: The Last Detail

text: The day after principal photography was completed, Ashby had his editor send what he had cut together so far. Ashby was shocked at the results and fired the editor, becoming afraid he would have to edit the film himself. Ayres recommended bringing in Robert C. Jones, one of the fastest editors in the business, who had been nominated for an Academy Award for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". Jones put the film back into rushes and six weeks later had a first cut ready that ran four hours. Ashby was very impressed with his abilities and trusted him completely. Jones cut the film with Ashby at the filmmaker's home. The process took an unusually long time, as the director agonized over all the footage he had shot. Ashby would ignore phone calls from Columbia, and eventually executives higher and higher up the corporate ladder tried to contact him. Ashby was in London, meeting with Peter Sellers about doing "Being There" when he received a phone call from Jones, who told him that Columbia was fed up with the time it was taking for the film to be assembled. The head of the studio's editing department called Jones to say that a representative was coming to take the film. Jones refused to give up the film, and Ashby called the studio and managed to calm down the officials. Towne occasionally visited Ashby's house to check in and did not like the pacing of the film. According to Towne, Ashby "left his dramatizing to the editing room, and the effect was a thinning out of the script". During the editing process, Columbia hated the jump cuts Ashby employed. The studio was also concerned about the number of expletives. It needed a commercial hit as they were in major financial trouble. By August 1973, the final cut of "The Last Detail" was completed and submitted to the MPAA, which gave it an R rating.


title: The Last Detail

text: Columbia was still not happy with the film and asked for 26 lines to be cut that had the word "fuck" in them. The theatrical release of "The Last Detail" was delayed for six months while Columbia fought over the profanity issue. The film contained 65 uses of "fuck" overall and at the time of its release, broke the record for most uses of the word in a motion picture. Ashby persuaded Columbia to let him preview the film to see how the public would react. It was shown in San Francisco, and the screening was a huge success.


title: The Last Detail

text: Ayres persuaded Columbia to submit "The Last Detail" to the Cannes Film Festival. After Nicholson won Best Actor there, it shamed the studio into releasing the film. The studio decided to give the film a limited release to qualify for Oscar consideration with a wide release planned for the spring of 1974. By the time of its wide release, any pre-Oscar hype that was generated was now gone.


title: The Last Detail

text: It was initially released on VHS and Betamax videocassettes, and Laserdisc and Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) Videodiscs, then later on DVD. Sony Pictures released "The Last Detail" on DVD in the United States on December 14, 1999. It was first made available on Blu-ray disc as a limited edition by boutique label Twilight Time in the United States on January 19, 2016 with two special features, an isolated score track and a theatrical trailer. The film was released in the UK by Powerhouse Films initially as a limited dual format edition set on February 27, 2017. Supplemental features include two cuts of the movie, original trailer; promotional materials; new interview with director of photography Michael Chapman; and a booklet.


title: The Last Detail

text: The film opened at the Bruin Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles for a special 11-day Academy Award qualifying engagement where it grossed $46,369. It earned $5 million in rentals at the North American box office.


title: The Last Detail

text: The film received very positive reviews. In "The New York Times", Vincent Canby said Nicholson's performance was "by far the best thing he's ever done". "Variety" magazine also praised Nicholson, saying he was "outstanding at the head of a superb cast". Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film four stars out of four, writing that Nicholson "continues his impressive string of performances" and that the screenplay "is both funny and wise. It captures all the silliness, stupidity, and veiled warmth of men in groups." He ranked it second (behind "Day for Night") on his list of the best films of the year. Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "a superior piece of film-making whose superlative acting, corrosive joking and dead-accurate feeling for time and milieu may well transcend its messages of hopelessness and innocence lost. But it is a downer, ferociously so." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" wrote in a generally negative review that "it's conceivable that this trim, foreshortened adaptation would have worked, if only the direction had been sharper. Unfortunately, Ashby has directed as if he were a novice, unsure of camera placement and lighting and undecided about what pace the story needs and what feelings it should evoke."


title: The Last Detail

text: Andrew Sarris, however, praised Ashby's "sensitive, precise direction". "Time" magazine's Richard Schickel wrote: "There is an unpretentious realism in Towne's script, and director Ashby handles his camera with a simplicity reminiscent of the way American directors treated lower-depths material in the '30s".


title: The Last Detail

text: It was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Paul Tatara largely credits Towne's "profane, heartbreaking script" for the film's "small details, colorful language, and utterly believable character development, which cumulatively pack a real emotional wallop."


title: The Last Detail

text: "The Last Detail" was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival and Nicholson was awarded Best Actor. It was also nominated for three Academy Awards – Jack Nicholson for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Randy Quaid for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Robert Towne for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium with none of them winning. In addition, "The Last Detail" was nominated for two Golden Globes Awards – Nicholson for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama and Quaid for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Nicholson also won a BAFTA award for his role in the film. Nicholson won the Best Actor awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle. However, he was disappointed that he failed to win an Oscar for his performance. "I like the idea of winning at Cannes with "The Last Detail", but not getting our own Academy Award hurt real bad. I did it in that movie, that was my best role".


title: The Last Detail

text: In 2006, filmmaker Richard Linklater expressed an interest in adapting "Last Flag Flying", a sequel to "The Last Detail", into a film. In the novel, Buddusky runs a bar and is reunited with Larry Meadows after his son is killed in the Iraq War. Linklater's adaptation, which he co-wrote with Ponicsan, was released in November 2017 and stars Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure for syphilis in 1909 and inventing the precursor technique to Gram staining bacteria. The methods he developed for staining tissue made it possible to distinguish between different types of blood cells, which led to the ability to diagnose numerous blood diseases.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: His laboratory discovered arsphenamine (Salvarsan), the first effective medicinal treatment for syphilis, thereby initiating and also naming the concept of chemotherapy. Ehrlich popularized the concept of a magic bullet. He also made a decisive contribution to the development of an antiserum to combat diphtheria and conceived a method for standardizing therapeutic serums.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: In 1908, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology. He was the founder and first director of what is now known as the Paul Ehrlich Institute, a German research institution and medical regulatory body that is the nation's federal institute for vaccines and biomedicines. A genus of Rickettsiales bacteria, "Ehrlichia", is named after him.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: Ehrlich was born 14 March 1854 in Strehlen in the Prussian province of Lower Silesia in what is now south-west Poland. He was the second child of Rosa (Weigert) and Ismar Ehrlich, the leader of the local Jewish community. His father was an innkeeper and distiller of liqueurs and the royal lottery collector in Strehlen, a town of some 5,000 inhabitants. His grandfather, Heymann Ehrlich, had been a fairly successful distiller and tavern manager. Ehrlich was the uncle of Fritz Weigert and cousin of Karl Weigert.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: After elementary school, Paul attended the time-honored secondary school Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau, where he met Albert Neisser, who later became a professional colleague. As a schoolboy (inspired by his cousin Karl Weigert who owned one of the first microtomes), he became fascinated by the process of staining microscopic tissue substances. He retained that interest during his subsequent medical studies at the universities of Wroclaw, Strasbourg, Freiburg im Breisgau and Leipzig. After obtaining his doctorate in 1882, he worked at the Charité in Berlin as an assistant medical director under Theodor Frerichs, the founder of experimental clinical medicine, focusing on histology, hematology and color chemistry (dyes).


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: He married Hedwig Pinkus (1864–1948) in 1883 in the synagogue in Neustadt (now Prudnik, Poland). The couple had two daughters, Stephanie and Marianne. Hedwig was a sister of Max Pinkus, who was an owner of the textile factory in Neustadt (later known as ZPB "Frotex"). He settled in the villa of the Fränkel family on Wiesenerstrasse in Neustadt.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: After completing his clinical education and habilitation at the prominent Charité medical school and teaching hospital in Berlin in 1886, Ehrlich traveled to Egypt and other countries in 1888 and 1889, in part to cure a case of tuberculosis which he had contracted in the laboratory. Upon his return he established a private medical practice and small laboratory in Berlin-Steglitz. In 1891, Robert Koch invited Ehrlich to join the staff at his Berlin Institute of Infectious Diseases, where in 1896 a new branch, the Institute for Serum Research and Testing ("Institut für Serumforschung und Serumprüfung"), was established for Ehrlich's specialization. Ehrlich was named its founding director.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: In 1899 his institute moved to Frankfurt am Main and was renamed the Institute of Experimental Therapy ("Institut für experimentelle Therapie"). One of his important collaborators there was Max Neisser. In 1904, Ehrlich received a full position of honorary professor from the University of Göttingen. In 1906 Ehrlich became the director of the Georg Speyer House in Frankfurt, a private research foundation affiliated with his institute. Here he discovered in 1909 the first drug to be targeted against a specific pathogen: Salvarsan, a treatment for syphilis, which was at that time one of the most lethal and infectious diseases in Europe. In 1914, Ehrlich was awarded the Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh. Among the foreign guest scientists working with Ehrlich at his institute were two Nobel Prize winners, Henry Hallett Dale and Paul Karrer. The institute was renamed Paul Ehrlich Institute in Ehrlich's honour in 1947.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: In 1914, Ehrlich signed the Manifesto of the Ninety-Three which was a defense of Germany's World War I politics and militarism. On 17 August 1915 Ehrlich suffered a heart attack and died on 20 August in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe. Wilhelm II the German emperor, wrote in a telegram of condolence, "I, along with the entire civilized world, mourn the death of this meritorious researcher for his great service to medical science and suffering humanity; his life’s work ensures undying fame and the gratitude of both his contemporaries and posterity".


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: In the early 1870s, Ehrlich's cousin Karl Weigert was the first person to stain bacteria with dyes and to introduce aniline pigments for histological studies and bacterial diagnostics. During his studies in Strassburg under the anatomist Heinrich Wilhelm Waldeyer, Ehrlich continued the research started by his cousin in pigments and staining tissues for microscopic study. He spent his eighth university semester in Freiburg im Breisgau investigating primarily the red dye dahlia (monophenylrosanilin), giving rise to his first publication.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: In 1878 he followed his dissertation supervisor Julius Friedrich Cohnheim to Leipzig, and that year obtained a doctorate with a dissertation entitled "Contributions to the Theory and Practice of Histological Staining" ("Beiträge zur Theorie und Praxis der histologischen Färbung").


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: One of the most outstanding results of his dissertation investigations was the discovery of a new cell type. Ehrlich discovered in the protoplasm of supposed plasma cells a granulate which could be made visible with the help of an alkaline dye. He thought this granulate was a sign of good nourishment, and accordingly named these cells mast cells, (from the German word for an animal-fattening feed, "Mast"). This focus on chemistry was unusual for a medical dissertation. In it, Ehrlich presented the entire spectrum of known staining techniques and the chemistry of the pigments employed.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: While he was at the Charité, Ehrlich elaborated upon the differentiation of white blood cells according to their different granules. A precondition was a dry specimen technique, which he also developed. A drop of blood placed between two glass slides and heated over a Bunsen burner fixed the blood cells while still allowing them to be stained. Ehrlich used both alkaline and acid dyes, and also created new "neutral" dyes. For the first time this made it possible to differentiate the lymphocytes among the leucocytes (white blood cells). By studying their granulation he could distinguish between nongranular lymphocytes, mono- and poly-nuclear leucocytes, eosinophil granulocytes, and mast cells.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: Starting in 1880, Ehrlich also studied red blood cells. He demonstrated the existence of nucleated red blood cells, which he subdivided into normoblasts, megaloblasts, microblasts and poikiloblasts; he had discovered the precursors of erythrocytes. Ehrlich thus also laid the basis for the analysis of anemias, after he had created the basis for systematizing leukemias with his investigation of white blood cells.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: His duties at the Charité included analyzing patients' blood and urine specimens. In 1881 he published a new urine test which could be used to distinguish various types of typhoid from simple cases of diarrhea. The intensity of staining made possible a disease prognosis. The pigment solution he used is known today as Ehrlich's reagent.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: Ehrlich's great achievement, but also a source of problems during his further career, was that he had initiated a new field of study interrelating chemistry, biology and medicine. Much of his work was rejected by the medical profession, which lacked the requisite chemical knowledge. It also meant that there was no suitable professorship in sight for Ehrlich.


title: Paul Ehrlich

text: When a student in Breslau, Ehrlich was given an opportunity by the pathologist Julius Friedrich Cohnheim to conduct extensive research and was also introduced to Robert Koch, who was at the time a district physician in Wollstein, Posen Province. In his spare time, Koch had clarified the life cycle of the anthrax pathogen and had contacted Ferdinand Cohn, who was quickly convinced by Koch's work and introduced him to his Breslau colleagues. From 30 April to 2 May 1876, Koch presented his investigations in Breslau, which the student Paul Ehrlich was able to attend.