Morning Report

'DIY is in our DNA' as the hardware shop advertising slogan goes - but the Accident Compensation Corporation is asking those emboldened to tackle jobs around the house during the lockdown to take extra care - even if they do think they have that supposed Kiwi genetic advantage.

ACC figures routinely show that the home is the number one place New Zealanders hurt themselves and with the limited options on offer to pass the time, it's expecting a rise in accidents associated with home and garden improvements.

Michael Cropp has this report.

A malaria drug touted by US President Donald Trump as a "game changer" in the fight against Covid-19 has been in high demand in New Zealand, leading Pharmac to put restrictions on its use.

The government drug buying agency says hydroxychloroquine will still be available for DHBs which are now involved in trials to see whether it could help prevent or limit the impact of Covid-19 - or even cure it.

Infectious disease experts spoken to by RNZ were cautious about over-hyping the drug but all believe it has promise - with one saying it was among the leading contenders for a possible cure.

Investigative Journalist Guyon Espiner has the story.

The Health Ministry is looking at a possible shift in US official guidelines, to recommend that the ordinary public should all wear face masks during the pandemic.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing new data that shows the highly infectious nature of Covid-19 means regular facemask use may help cut transmission.

It shows many people show no symptoms for two days, during which time they spread the virus around.

The Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says the experience in parts of Asia of routine face mask use appears to back this up.

He says some of the 40 million masks being imported by the ministry could be diverted to the public.

An expat New Zealander in Shanghai Brendon Ritchie says we should follow what China has done in his city by providing 10 surgical masks a week to each household.

US media are reporting there is NO medical consensus on whether widespread use of masks would make a significant difference to avoiding infection.

Hong Kong University's head of epidemiology Professor Ben Cowling says there is some benefit from wearing masks - but he told Phil Pennington, it's not that simple.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The kiwifruit industry is fighting for survival as it tries to pick and pack the season's crop while enforcing Covid-19 restrictions.

The apple industry is also predicting problems with at least 10 percent of the crop not likely to be picked.

The virus lock-down has come right in the middle of the harvest season.

Andrew McRae reports.

The government has announced a range of moves in the last week to try and lessen the impact of Covid-19 and the Level Four lockdown on the New Zealand economy.

Among the latest $6.25 billion in loans to New Zealand businesses and adding essential workers who need to take leave to the government wage support scheme.

The government is warning unemployment could climb into double digits as the fallout from Covid-19 continues.

Paul Goldsmith is National's Finance spokesperson, and is on the Epidemic Response Committee which is scruitinisng the goverment's handling of the coronavirus crisis while parliament is adjorned.

He speaks to Corin Dann.

Video conferencing app Zoom is to pause the development of any new features so it can concentrate on safety and privacy issues.

The National Party has this week raised concerns about its use for Cabinet meetings saying its security isn't good enough.

In response the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said they did not discuss sensitive or classified information when using the app.

In a blog, Eric Yuan, the chief executive Zoom apologised for "falling short" on security issues and promised to address concerns.

He said that the use of Zoom had soared in ways he could never have foreseen prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of the end of December last year, the maximum number of daily meeting participants, both free and paid, was approximately 10 million.

In March this year, it is now more than 200 million.

Yuan has admitted that despite "working around the clock" to support the influx of new users, the service had "fallen short of the community's - and our own - privacy and security expectations".

"For that, I am deeply sorry," he wrote in his blog. 

He said quote "We now have a much broader set of users who are utilising our product in a myriad of unexpected ways presenting us with challenges we did not anticipate when the platform was conceived."

The huge uptake of Zoom has created the new phenomenon of 'zoombombing' which sees uninvited guests join video conferences, usually to shout abuse, share pornography or make racist remarks.

The mischief-makers find out the details of the meetings either via links that have been shared publicly on social media platforms or websites or, in some cases, by simply guessing the nine digit ID code.

It is reasonably easy to prevent attacks by password protecting meetings and not allowing anyone other than the host to screen-share.

A union representing Fletchers staff says it's obscene that workers pay will be severely docked over the next three months but senior executives won't take nearly as much of a financial hit.

The company wants to put about 9000 staff not working on gradually reducing pay over the next three months.

It's proposing they get 80 percent of base pay for the next four weeks, reducing to 50 percent for the next month, and 30 percent the month after.

It's also proposing cutting senior executives' pay by 15 percent as it struggles to balance the books due to Covid-19.

Amalgamated Workers Union national secretary Maurice Davis told RNZ reporter Matthew Theunissen this is not good enough.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.