Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has offered somewhat half-hearted confidence in the Government’s frontline testing register.Although he has referred to it as a “good tool,” he has doubled down on the fact the ultimate onus…

Members of the South Auckland community are relieved after charges have been laid following the fatal shooting of a woman in her home more than a year ago.Meliame Fisi’ihoi was shot dead in the early hours of January 15, 2020.Three…

The country’s medicine regulator has asked for more information from pharmaceutical company Janssen before making a decision to approve its Covid-19 vaccine.The US, European Union and South Africa have temporarily halted the rollout…

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

The Royal Family has released never-before-seen photos of Prince Philip and his great grandchildren just two days before his funeral.

The photos, published in a coordinated social media tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, show Prince Philip and the Queen surrounded by seven of their great-grandchildren in a photo taken by the Duchess of Cambridge at Balmoral Castle in 2018.

READ MORE: Prince Philip – what are the plans for his funeral?

A second image shows Prince Philip and the Queen alongside Prince William and wife Kate Middleton with their two children Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Princess Eugenie, younger daughter of Prince Andrew and grandchild of Prince Philip, also released a statement in the last few hours as well. She has said:

"We all miss you. You would be so touched by all the tributes that have been shared with me the past few days."

READ MORE: 'Cheeky right 'til the end': Harry's tribute to Prince Philip

"I will remember you in your children, your grandchildren and great grandchildren. Thank you for your dedication and love for us all and especially Granny, who we will look after for you."

With just two days to go until the funeral, preparations are now underway.

Prince Philip will be laid to rest this weekend following a period of national mourning from Friday until the duke's funeral on Saturday 17 April at 3pm (midnight April 18 AEST).

The Palace says the plans for the funeral are in line with The Duke of Edinburgh's own personal wishes.

The service will be held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

READ MORE: Queen resumes royal duties ahead of Prince Philip's funeral

Rehearsals have begun over the last 24 hours with 730 servicemen and women to be involved over the course of the day.

Only 30 people will be permitted inside the Chapel due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

They will include Princes William and Harry who reportedly have now spoken on the phone since Harry arrived in the UK.

The two brothers are not expected to meet in person until all members of the Royal Family congregate for the funeral at St George's Chapel on Saturday.

There have been reports of an internal debate over whether Harry should wear a military uniform after leaving the royal family and the armed forced.

Mass vaccination hubs could be the government's next plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine rollout back on track, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

Mr Morrison flagged the hubs to potentially open in the latter half of the year, however, doctors have already said mass vaccination sites aren't needed for people above the age of 50.

Supply also remains an issue, with ongoing problems around AstraZeneca doses.

LIVE UPDATES: EU announces massive focus on Pfizer

READ MORE: Dr Fauci's praise and warning for Australia's COVID response

Former Australian Medical Association head Dr Tony Bartone told Today he was surprised the mass hubs were being spoken about as part of an early-stage response.

"We were looking at rolling out the mass vaccination perhaps later on in the plan," he said.

"GP clinics were always going to be the focus of the 1B rollout and then pharmacists were going to join on board."

Dr Bartone said the mass hubs would rely on "robust supply and availability", necessitating a build-up of AstraZeneca vaccines and the incoming 20 million Pfizer doses.

"But 1B is GP-led, and that's where patients want to go," he said.

"(Mass vaccination hubs) are an important part as we get into phase 2B and the younger population which are much more mobile and don't have that immediate access to general practice in a routine.

"Phase 1B patients are seeing their doctors regularly and so it makes sense for them to have their vaccines through them to have their vaccines through the GP clinics."

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said she would hope 60,000 people a week would be vaccinated across all the planned NSW hubs.

Dr Bartone said an average mass hub would provide between 1000-1500 vaccinations a day.

READ MORE: What's gone wrong with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine?

READ MORE: Restrictions ease in Queensland

"So you can see these are not large numbers in comparison to the 400,000 or 500,000 that would be going through general practice," he said.

Infectious disease expert Dr Paul Griffin also said the hubs would be a part of the answer, and that locally manufactured AstraZeneca would be important to the rollout.

And he backed the Prime Minister's hope to have most Australians vaccinated by the end of the year.

"I think there's no question it's going to be challenging but I think we need to have aspirational goals here, we need to work as hard as we can to get the vaccines out there," Dr Griffin said.

"We have seen the restrictions lift here but without a vaccine rollout we will need the restriction and the lockouts and border controls and other mitigation strategies to stay on top."

By Charlotte Cook for RNZ The Christchurch mosque shooter will represent himself in a fresh legal challenge at the High Court in Auckland this morning.RNZ understands the mass murderer wants to initiate a judicial review of…

After a nerve-racking few months, the family of murdered Dunedin teen Amber-Rose Rush are breathing sighs of relief after her killer’s appeal bid was tossed out.The Court of Appeal yesterday took the rare step of stating it was…

By RNZ Critical testing of workers at managed isolation facilities is again under scrutiny with revelations dozens of staff may not be getting regular Covid-19 swabs.Ministry of Health records show that a security guard who…