Holiday Breakfast

An international health expert says if New Zealanders want to keep new strains of Covid-19 out of the community, we need to do the hard work.
The Ministry of Health has so far recorded a total of 19 cases linked to the UK and South Africa variants.
Otago University's Philip Hill told Tim Dower people need to adhere to the Covid-19 health guidelines.
He says people aren't taking the possibility of another outbreak in the community, seriously.
Mr Hill says there's more to be done than just getting a jab, including following public health guidelines.
He says this would help keep the virus at bay until a vaccine arrives.
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Britain's coronavirus vaccine program will operate around the clock seven days a week “as soon as we can,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Wednesday as the U.K. accelerates efforts to inoculate millions of its most vulnerable people against coronavirus.
Johnson said “at the moment, the limit is on supply” of the vaccines rather than on the ability of the country's health service to deliver jabs quickly. The push to inoculate millions quickly comes as a more contagious variant of COVID-19 is sweeping across Britain and driving hospitals to their breaking points.
His comments came as the government said 1,564 more people had died within 28 days of testing positive, the highest figure reported in Britain on a single day since the pandemic began. Britain already had Europe’s highest COVID-19 death toll.
The U.K. is under an indefinite national lockdown to curb the spread of the new variant, with nonessential shops, gyms and hairdressers closed, most people working from home and schools largely offering remote learning. But some are calling for even tougher measures.
Scotland's leader, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, tightened restrictions Wednesday, barring the consumption of alcohol outdoors and barring the public from going inside businesses to collect takeaway orders.
The U.K. government has set a goal of delivering the first vaccine dose to everyone over age 70, as well as frontline health care workers, nursing home residents and anyone whose health makes them especially vulnerable to the virus, by the middle of February. That’s more than 15 million people.
Vaccinations will be given at hundreds of doctors’ offices and community pharmacies, 50 mass vaccination sites at convention centers and sports stadiums, as well as at 223 hospitals.
Britain is already using the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca and has approved one made by Moderna, but that one is not expected to be delivered until spring.
The pace of the country's vaccination drive remains a constant source of discussion.
Johnson’s comments came as his vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, testified before a parliamentary committee that the government now had “line of sight” of deliveries to the end of February but sidestepped questions about week-by-week vaccine deliveries.
“In any manufacturing process, especially one where you’re dealing with a biological compound, a novel vaccine, is lumpy at the outset,” he told the Commons Science and Technology Committee. “There’s no doubt that it was, but getting better. ... We have millions of doses coming through in the weeks and then next month and the month after.”
The challenge, Zahawi said, was not just getting vaccine shots into people's arms, but the difficulty of reaching vulnerable people. Greater daily volumes of inoculations could be achieved if specific groups weren't targeted, he said.
In a reflection of the frantic demand, Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, asked the committee to help gain permission for people working in the vaccine process to get priority for the COVID-19 shots.
“One of the things that I’m worried about is actually maintaining a continuous supply and work on this vaccine,” he said as he appealed for workers to be immunized. “If you have an outbreak at one of the centers — which we’ve had actually — or in one of the groups in Oxford working on new variants, or the people that are working on the regulatory files, everything stops.''
The government is desperately trying to protect people with vaccines before hospitals are overwhelmed with cases of the new, more infections virus variant.
Johnson said “the risk is very substantial” of intensive care capacity being outstripped. He said hospitals in England were treating about 32,000 COVID-19 patients, about 70% more than during the first peak in April.
He said there are “some...

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There are potential for issues if we race through and approve a Covid-19 vaccine.
National is calling on the Government to accelerate the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, in light of the highly-infectious UK and South African variants.
The UK is full steam ahead with vaccinating, while there are roll outs in other countries.
Auckland University Immunisation Advisory Centre director Nikki Turner told Tim Dower other parts of the world are approving,  based on provisional data due to their emergency situations.
“If we race through and approve a vaccine and miss a problem - authorities may lose confidence among the population.”
Turner says overseas countries are approving the vaccine based on provisional data - while we have a bit more time.
“If we see, or expect we might get a break in our borders, then maybe we need to think about moving with provisional approval ahead of waiting for the full data.”
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At least six Republicans in the House of Representatives have indicated they will vote to impeach US President Donald Trump, it has been reported.
A historic debate is underway in the House over whether to impeach him.
Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington, tweeted his statement where he indicated he we vote in favour of impeachment.
"Turning a blind eye to this brutal assault on our Republic is not an option," Newhouse stated.
"There is no excuse for President Trump's actions.
"Others, including myself, are responsible for not speaking out sooner — before the President misinformed and inflamed a violent mob," Newhouse said.
"The President took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Last week, there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol, and he did nothing to stop it. That is why with a heavy heart and clear resolve, I will vote yes on these articles of impeachment," he said.
Newhouse now joins other Republicans who have said they will vote to impeach Trump. At least six have said they will break ranks.
These are the Republicans who say they will vote for impeachment so far:
Rep. Dan Newhouse of WashingtonRep. John Katko of New YorkRep. Jamie Herrera Beutler of WashingtonRep. Adam Kinzinger of IllinoisRep. Fred Upton of MichiganRep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming

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David Seymour says last year we were in a state of emergency, this year it's a state of complacency.
The Act leader is calling for the Government to make scanning in with a QR code compulsory for those people who haven't switched on the Covid Tracer app's Bluetooth capability.
Seymour told Tim Beveridge he's worried we could be very quickly shaken out of our complacency with a fast-spreading outbreak of the new strain, and end up in lockdown again.
"Businesses cannot afford that, and students going back to studies soon cannot miss more time. We have to get smarter."
Seymour says we have all sorts of rules that we manage to enforce.
"If the rule is you have to sign in - it should only take a couple of cops issuing fines at a couple of locations before people will decide to do the right thing."
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Almost all regions experienced a substantial lift in the number of new job ads in the last quarter of last year.
The latest Seek Quarterly Employment Report data shows the majority of regions had quarter-on-quarter increases, with many surpassing pre-Covid levels.
Seek general manager Janet Faulding told Tim Dower Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Manawatu and Tasman are all up year-on-year.
“What was particularly heartening was to see those areas are getting their growth in trades and services, manufacturing and healthcare.”
Faulding says off the back of Covid which decimated the job market - they're looking closely at the quarterly data.
She says off the back of the election and with an increase in business confidence jobs were up 19 per cent, with steady demand in labour, particularly in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
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Country communities aren't yet ready to see the death of the cheque.
Rural Women New Zealand has found overwhelming opposition among its members, to the demise of paper payment methods.
More than 70 per cent of respondents to a survey are expressing concern as many banks aim to remove cheques as a payment option in 2021.
Rural women board member Sharon Davie-Martin told Tim Dower many rural communities still don't have the connectivity required for internet banking.
She says her group would like cheques to remain an option until all homes have good internet access.
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Newstalk ZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast.
This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about.
Jimmy's Pies from Roxburgh are famous throughout the lower South Island.
Made to an old family recipe, Jimmy's have been making their meat pies for almost 50 years.
Katie Kirkpatrick runs the shop, she joined Tim Dower to talk about making the famous pies!
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A whole range of reasons as to why people aren't scanning QR codes, when they're out and about.
Act Leader David Seymour is calling for scanning into any premises to be made compulsory,  for those who haven't switched on the Covid Tracer app's Bluetooth capability.
Auckland University researcher Andrew Chen told Tim Dower the reasons range from people giving it a go and it not working through to a lack of trust in the Government.
"There's also a perception of low risk which means that people aren't taking the necessary public health action they probably should be to protect themselves."
Chen says there's also the issue of enforcement - it's practically not possible to enforce usage of the app.
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An epidemiologist disagrees with the calls to shut the borders to the US and the UK.
Both countries are battling high rates of infection and new variants of the virus.
US and UK travellers will be required to produce a negative test prior to departure, from Saturday.
Otago University's David Murdoch told Tim Dower the Government can't simply close the borders.
He says to ensure things keep going in the country, they can't close down all air travel from those countries.
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