Morning Report

News from the business sector, including a market report.

For one father in Whanganui, the lockdown is a welcome opportunity to spend quality time with his children like he never has before. Harley Pomeroy has experienced months of stress as the impacts of Covid-19 hit his forestry company, Pomeroy Logging. He says while uncertainty remains over how the business will fare after the lockdown, there is a major positive in all of this. He spoke to RNZ Maori news correspondent Leigh-Marama McLachlan

Emergency medical supplies will begin arriving in New Zealand this weekend as health authorities try to make sure there is enough personal protective equipment for frontline health workers.

The Ministry of Health says 41 million face masks are coming, along with 500,000 isolation gowns, 30,000 face shields and 50,000 goggles.

Extra gear for non-health staff doing essential work is also coming.

Whanganui company Amtech is arranging some of the imports.

Amtech director Jeremy Anderson told our reporter Phil Pennington three charter flights have been arranged with more to come.

The government is confident police are well-resourced to crack down on people breaking the lockdown rules, but some communities say it's still not enough. An East Coast group operating its own safety checkpoints is crying out for more support, and others further North say people still aren't getting the message to stay home. Te Aniwa Hurihanganui has more.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

Diplomatic negotiations have resumed on the repatriation of German nationals stranded in New Zealand.

Germany has repatriated 187,000 of their citizens from around the world so far.

Some 10,000 Germans, mainly tourists, students and those on working visas, are stuck in New Zealand.

Just one of the flights chartered by the German Government was able to make it to New Zealand, before they were postponed because of the New Zealand government's lock down restrictions came into place.

Germany correspondent Thomas Sparrow speaks to Susie Ferguson.

Hutt Hospital has created a new intensive care unit in two weeks.

It's one of several hospitals around the country which have been fast-tracking building work to prepare for Covid-19.

Hutt's head of intensive care, Andrew Stapleton, says a furious building effort had turned office space into a new ICU unit.

Dr Stapleton says it's been extraordinary how quickly they've been able to get the unit ready and there's been a lot of teamwork and hard work.

He says the hospital is now in a much better position if it does get an increase in patients.

The US death toll from coronavirus pandemic has almost doubled in the past three days.

There are 190 thousand confirmed cases in the United States, almost 4,000 people have died.

President Donald Trump has warned Americans of a "painful" two weeks ahead, with White House health officials modeling an enormous jump in virus-related deaths even with strict social distancing measures.

There could be anywhere between 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the country.

Add to that the Dow Jones has tumbled more than 700 points as investors flee to safe-haven assets.

Washington correspondent Simon Marks speaks to Susie Ferguson.

The Prince of Wales has called about the people of Britain to live in hope and faith and look forward to better times. The number of Covid-19 deaths in Britain jumped by 563 in the last 24 hours to 2,352, while there are now almost 30,000 confirmed cases. Prince Charles has confirmed he will continue to stay largely isolated after recovering from virus. Earlier this week Prince Charles announced he had ended self-isolation after seven days spent alone following his coronavirus diagnosis. The 71-year-old recorded a message in support of Age UK in response to the health crisis.