In less than two hours New Zealand will enter phase three of its Omicron response. It is almost two years to the day when the first Covid-19 case was reported here on February 28 2020. Since then we've had a national state of emergency and an alert level system. RNZ's health correspondent Rowan Quinn talks through what to expect under phase three.

As New Zealand and some other countries look to ease Covid-19 restrictions Hong Kong is moving in the other direction. From Thursday it's compulsory to wear masks in parks and when you're exercising. Eating and drinking is banned on all public transport and masks must be worn at all times while in transit. From next month Hong Kong will carry out compulsory covid testing for all its citizens to try to slow the spread of the virus. Tom Grundy is the Editor in Chief at the Hong Kong Free Press.

Geoffrey Miller is an international analyst at the Democracy Project at Victoria University in Wellington.

Vitalii Rybak is a journalist currently working in Ukraine but says if necessary he will take up arms to defend Ukraine against Russia.

Mediawatch's weekly catch-up with Lately. This week Hayden Donnell talked to Karyn Hay about information from leading media figures around booster shots. TVNZ's Maori language news programme, Te Karere, celebrates 40 years on air and confrontations between journalists and protesters near Parliament.

Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick has Covid 19 and urges the public that it still needs to take the virus seriously

Felicity Reid runs through the winners at tonights Halberg Awards with Dame Lisa Carrington winning the Supreme Award and Sportswoman of the Year.

How much more will homeowners have to pay on their mortgages now that the Reserve Bank has raised the official cash rate to one percent? And what about those who want to get on the property ladder? On top of that Westpac and the ANZ predict the rate to rise further this year and maybe go as high as three percent by 2023. Jarrod Kerr is the chief economist at Kiwibank and says many homeowners will feel the pinch.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says nurses are still facing a crisis. The Prime Minister says Omicron should peak next month followed by a 'rapid decline' in cases. Diane McCulloch works in the emergency department at Waitakere Hospital and is a delegate for the NZNO. She says staffing shortages are just adding to the pressure on nurses many of whom are exhausted. Some of them tell her 'I can't do this any more.'

In 1995 local iwi occupied Moutoa Gardens, also called Pakaitore, in central Whanganui. Their protest lasted for 79 days and ended peacefully. Alec Waugh was the Whanganui district police commander at the time and he relives the tensions of those months balancing the concerns of protesters, local residents and politicians. Are there lessons to be learned for the handling of today's protest near Parliament?