For older people and frail people, the long-term benefit of medicines reduces and the potential for harm from adverse effects increases. When the benefit–risk balance changes in this way, medicine review and optimisation are important to simplify the therapeutic regimen, reduce inappropriate medicines and minimise risks. In this article, pharmacist prescriber Linda Bryant uses two case studies to illustrate important considerations during medicine reviews
Two new imported cases of COVID-19
Two new imported cases of COVID-19

There are two new cases of COVID-19 to report from managed isolation in New Zealand today. There are no new cases in the community.
The first imported case arrived on October 9 from India via Dubai and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Hamilton. They tested positive as part of routine day 3 testing and have been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility.
The second imported case arrived on October 12 from San Francisco, USA, and was taken to a managed isolation facility in Christchurch. They were tested after displaying symptoms of COVID-19.
Our total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 1,520, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization.
Our total number of active cases is 42 – all imported cases. There are no active community cases of COVID-19.
Yesterday our laboratories processed 5,196 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,016,853.
NZ COVID Tracer
There are now 2,307,400 users registered on NZ COVID Tracer.
The app has recorded a total of 91,889,488 poster scans, and users have created 3,849,194 manual diary entries