Morning Report

A brief update from the business sector.

An IVF patient who's had to stop treatment because of the lockdown says fertility services should be classed as essential.

Clinics around the country are closed for most treatments because they are not deemed an essential service.

A 39-year-old woman, who wants to keep her identity private, was due to have a embryo transferred last week she'd hoped would lead to a pregnancy.

She's been trying for five years and told RNZ health correspondent Rowan Quinn she was hit for six when she got a call to say the treatment was off.

The Leader of the Opposition says it's not too early to start talking about an exit plan, but the focus has to remain on heightened levels of testing and contact tracing, and tougher border quarantines.

There are initial, positive signs the Level Four lockdown is doing what it's supposed to do - containing the rate of infection within the community.

Government ministers will start talking about what an exit plan might look like, but warn that's no cause for complacency.

National Party leader Simon Bridges told RNZ political editor, Jane Patterson it all hinges on an effective lockdown.

The Queen will make a speech on the Covid crisis. We'll take her address live, And The IT industry fears the Health Ministry is adopting contact tracing technology that is too slow to keep up with the pandemic.

It's Friday so we cross the ditch to Canberra to talk to our correspondent Kerry-Anne Walsh.

Canines in Hauraki are not respecting their fury friend's Covid-19 bubbles.

There's been a sharp increase in dogs attacking other dogs in the district since the level four lockdown came into place.

The council used to respond to about one dog attack every two months, but at the moment they are dealing with one everyday.

Mayor of the Hauraki district is Toby Adams.

The government has announced it will ensure the funding of country's sports organisations.

All international, professional and grass roots sports has been either cancelled or postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sports and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson says funding will be rolled over for the current financial year into next year.

The 88-year-old New Zealand Woman's Weekly is one of the magazines closing after Bauer Media announced yesterday it was folding its Kiwi operation.

The magazine has been around since December 1932.

Jean Topp, the 89-year-old mother of entertainers the Topp Twins, has been buying the magazine since she was a teenager.

She told Susan Strongman why she rarely missed an issue.

A brief update of movements in the financial sector.

The first full working week of the new normal is almost over, most New Zealanders are holed up at home, and relying on essential workers to keep the country running.

So how's that going?

Federated Farmers president Katie Milne speaks to Susie Ferguson.