The Central App was opened over 17,000 times over the last week, with the news section receiving over 13,000 clicks in seven days. 

Not surprisingly, COVID announcements dominated the top two most read stories of the last week. 

News of the COVID-19 Delta outbreak is the hot topic across the nation as New Zealand battles to control the spread of the virus. 

So far there are 551 community cases currently in the country, with 83 new cases confirmed on Sunday, while 35 people are in hospital. 

The third most read story of the last week was the news Southern mayors want pause on Three Waters which received 1000 views. 

Mayors and council bosses across Otago and Southland have collectively called for a pause on the Three Waters reform programme.

They've written to minister of local government Nanaia Mahuta to formally request more time to allow councils to engage with their communities on the reform - a three-year programme launched by the government in 2020 to reform local government’s three water service delivery arrangements.

Billions of dollars of funding is needed for essential upgrades to drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services - the ‘three waters’ - across New Zealand, to meet new health and environmental standards.

The government is proposing the management of all councils' water services be transferred to four publicly-owned entities, beginning July 1, 2024, but the ownership of the infrastructure would remain in councils' hands.  

Councils currently have until December to make a decision to opt in or opt out, and they are expected to give feedback on the proposals by October 1.

In July, The Central App was opened 75,154 times, and has now been downloaded by 37,371 smartphone users. It has a daily average view count of 22,242.