Mike Houlahan

Any cold-like symptoms have the potential to be the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but a sore throat or runny nose are two to particularly look out for, a South Island virologist says.

Another senior manager has resigned from the Southern District Health Board.

Any cold-like symptoms have the potential to be the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but a sore throat or runny nose are two to particularly look out for, an Otago virologist says.

The Otago Daily Times annual reader photography competition is called "Magic Moments", and for this year’s winner, Anneliese Carlson, that neatly sums up her award-winning entry.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to ensure a highly regarded exercise programme for cancer patients is able to continue.

The Southern District Health Board has apologised and said it let down a man who made repeated visits to its emergency department, none of which detected the colon cancer that ultimately killed him.

After a hectic year of construction, Covid-19 lockdowns and staff changes, private mental health provider Ashburn Clinic is hoping for a quieter 2022, pandemic permitting.

The Southern District Health Board is once more in the leading division of the Covid-19 vaccination drive.

The Barry Kloogh fraud case may soon return to court as his liquidators seek funds from the sale of a property possibly bought with stolen money.

The big crane has left town and the diggers have been parked up where one day the new Dunedin Hospital will stand.

Queen Mary maternity ward returned to business as usual yesterday after weekend staff shortages meant postnatal patients in the Dunedin ward had to be moved elsewhere.

Southern health officials have rewritten their pandemic preparedness plans in the expectation they will soon have to manage an outbreak of the Omicron rather than the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Covid-19 refused to go away, but the pandemic was far from the only reason the southern health system hit the headlines in 2021. Health reporter  Mike Houlahan looks back on the year that was.

There are many things by which the success, or otherwise, of a Member of Parliament can be measured, but the fundamental one is whether they are still an MP at the end of the year, or not.