Morning Report

Today about 800,000 children are returning to school for the first time in eight weeks. Most have not been to school since 24 March.

Schools have to maintain strict hygiene with hand sanitiser in classrooms and contact registers for all school visitors.

Principals told RNZ they have been figuring out how best to ease students back into classroom learning after weeks of remote learning at home.

RNZ Reporters are stationed outside schools to see how students (and parents) are coping with the first day back.

Shoppers were able to enjoy New Zealand's malls and high streets over the weekend.

But the precarious situation for retailers wasn't helped by a government flip flop on the rules around contact tracing and physical distancing.

So how is level two working out for retailers?

Greg Harford is the chief executive of Retail New Zealand.

Among the many activities people were able to do for the first time at the weekend under level two, was to head to their local farmers market.

The risk of spreading Covid-19 meant they were forced to close for seven weeks leaving the many small producers and growers who rely on them struggling to stay afloat.

Conan Young visited the Riccarton Bush market in Christchurch, where over a thousand market goers turned out to show their support.

People who look after children who cannot be cared for by their own parents will receive more money from July.

Around 14,000 caregivers look after more than 22,000 children, both inside and outside the state care system. In the Budget announced last week, there's an additional $210 million over four years for those caregivers.

Tracey Martin is Minister for Children.

A brief update of movements in the financial sector.

The government will spend more than $13 million fixing damage to two of New Zealand's Great Walks, in the hope that the popular tramping routes could re-open for the summer season.

More than 440 kilometres of walking tracks across Fiordland were damaged by flooding earlier this year.

Bridges, campsites and huts were also affected, with the worse of the damage on the Milford and Routeburn tracks.

Eugenie Sage is the Minister of Conservation.

Around the world countries emerging from lockdown are trying to keep track of where their citizens are going, and who they are coming into contact with.

In New Zealand the status of a government-backed contact tracing mobile app is unclear.

European governments are planning to roll-out apps of their own next month, and each is the product of a choice between a government developing its own app, or teaming up with some of Silicon Valley's biggest players, despite their reputation for extracting personal data from unknowing users.

A report published in Politico on Friday outlined the way Apple and Google "flexed their muscles", forcing governments to follow their ideas about how these apps should be developed.

Mark Scott is the Chief Technology Correspondent for Politico.

Playcentre families are reeling from a lack of adequate funding in the Budget.

Parents have been posting on the Prime Minister's Facebook page, stressing how upset they are that underfunding could mean centres will have to close.

Sean McKinley is Playcentre general manager.

Students around the country are flooding back to school today.

Principals are bracing themselves to deal with the many challenges involved - ranging from how to get everyone to school when seats on buses are limited, through to dealing with heightened anxiety caused by the Covid 19 lockdown.

Susie Ferguson speaks to Chris Hipkins.

The struggling New Zealand sports sector is receiving a boost in its bid to survive and adapt amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced yesterday $265 million in additional government funding over the next four years.

Almost a third of that goes towards short-term relief, while the remainder is targeted at helping sport rebuild and innovate as the country emerges from the crisis.

Clay Wilson with this report.