Morning Report

The New Zealanders in quarantine on board the cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, are being offered seats on a plane that's leaving Japan for Australia tomorrow but not all of them want to go.

A chartered Qantas flight will fly more than 200 Australians from Tokyo to Darwin with another two week quarantine awaiting them when they arrive back home.

The 11 New Zealanders still on board the ship will be offered places on the plane. Two other New Zealanders are in hospital in Japan with the virus. 

Even though the passengers on the Diamond Princess have been in quarantine, that won't count once they get to Australia. 

Auckland business owner Wren Manuel and his wife Kay have been on the Diamond Princess for 28 days and in quarantine for 13 of that. 

RNZ spoke to Manuel last night just after they had learnt of the Australian offer. 

He told Morning Report producer Kim Griggs they don't want to start their quarantine over again so they're not taking up the offer.

The Ministry of Health will give more detail about how New Zealanders who return after being on the Diamond Princess in Japan will complete their quarantine at its regular daily media conference this afternoon. 

But in an email to passengers onboard the Diamond Princess MFAT says advice from epidemiologists sent to Japan by countries such as Australia is that "despite diligent efforts" there may be ongoing transmission of the virus on board the vessel and that means passengers "are at risk of infection whilst you remain on board".

The email also warns that for passengers who chose to remain on board, there might be border restrictions which could hinder attempts to get back into New Zealand.

It also says if passengers arrive back in New Zealand on other commercial flights within 14 days of leaving the ship they will be subject to health screenings and could end up in isolation.

The inability of spinner Mitchell Santner to be an attacking force at test level has seen him dropped for the two test series against India.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The UK is facing another day of flooding and travel chaos as it struggles with its second major storm in less than a week.

Some areas have recorded more than double their average rainfall for February already and more than 300 flood warnings are in place.

Many parts of the UK under several feet of water, damaging homes, closing roads and damaging rail lines - leaving people stranded - and more rain is expected.

Families have been coming to terms with the destruction of their homes and belongings.

Corin Dann speaks to UK correpsondent Benji Hyer.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

Schools may need more power to order students to quarantine themselves to prevent the spread of pandemic viruses.

Macleans College in Auckland has hundreds of foreign students and asked 260 of them to self-isolate because they recently arrived from China.

The school's principal, Steven Hargreaves, told RNZ education correspondent, John Gerritsen, it's not easy to persuade teenagers to observe a quarantine period.

Team LeBron beat Team Giannis by two points at the 69th NBA All-Star basketball game in Chicago that fell silent for eight seconds before tip-off as about 21,000 fans joined hands to pay their respects to global sports icon Kobe Bryant.

New Zealanders stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship are offered an escape plan A second 100-thousand dollar donation to National sparks Serious Fraud Office charges More details emerge of New Zealand First Foundation's relationship with donors National talks up its plan for tax cuts

A scientific study of the number of insects splattered by cars in the UK has revealed a huge decline in the abundance of bugs over two decades.

The research by the Kent Wildlife Trust adds to growing evidence of what some scientists have called an "insect apocalypse".

Dr Paul Tinsley-Marshall is from the Kent Wildlife Trust.

He speaks to Corin Dann.