Morning Report

The head of the nurses union says new Ministry of Health guidelines on the use of protective gear are more concerned with rationing than with keeping workers safe.

The Ministry has issued new advice after complaints from front-line staff about not having proper access to personal protective equipment.

Kerri Nuku is the director of the Nurses Organisation.

An Auckland woman who caught Covid-19 from her daughter, has infected her boss, who then infected her husband - and all of them spent days trying to get tested but were either put off or refused.

The four cases all stem from the country's biggest cluster of cases at Marist College which now has 77 confirmed cases.

Even though two of the sick women informed them of the Marist link, both the Ministry of Health's Healthline and a community testing station refused to approve tests.

Phil Pennington reports.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

Government advisors say social media misinformation about Covid-19 is putting Pacific communities in New Zealand at particular risk.

On Tuesday, the government announced a $17 million package toward building an awareness campaign in Pacific languages, as well as support for health providers.

Doctors and community leaders say that's needed to tackle a stream of false information online and address a staffing shortfall in health workers.

Mackenzie Smith reports.

A justice reform group says New Zealand's treatment of prisoners during the Covid-19 outbreak means that under international definitions, they are now in solitary confinement.

Four families have told RNZ that inmates across the country are being confined to their cells for 23 or more hours a day.

Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis told Guyon Espiner his department is not trying to punish prisoners and is instead doing all it can to keep Covid-19 out of jails.

The Health Minister's failure to observe the lockdown rules has been described by a former health union leader as an honest mistake but one that warranted punishment.

Despite the national Covid-19 lockdown, David Clark hopped in his car, drove 20 kilometres to the beach with his family and went for a walk.

He's been stripped of his associate finance minister role and demoted down the Cabinet rankings.

Ian Powell headed the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists for 30 years and worked closely with Mr Clark.

He told our political reporter Jo Moir the Prime Minister was right to keep him in the job.

An Auckland woman has spoken out about the nine days it took for her to get a Covid-19 test despite being sick and having a daughter who goes to Marist College - the centre of the country's biggest cluster of the disease.

The woman who was eventually classed as a probable case says she also infected her boss who in turn infected her husband.

During this time her father-in-law died from cancer and she went to a funeral dinner.

She told RNZ reporter Phil Pennington she started to feel unwell on 19 March after her daughter had come down with  a sore throat.

The woman then developed a bad headache but went to work and had a 15 minute meeting with her employer.

She got worse with a fever and cough and on 22 March - the same day parents were told Marist College had the disease - she rang the health line.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update of movements in the financial sector.

Brazil has reported more than 12,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 566 deaths.

President Jair Bolsonaro has previously compared the coronavirus to a "a little flu" and advocated reopening schools and shopping centres.

However the pandemic is reported to have started hitting the favelas or ghettos in the major cities.

Jamie McGeever is Reuters senior economics correspondent in Brazil.