Morning Report

Government agencies are meeting today to discuss how to ramp up New Zealand's response if the coronavirus crisis continues to worsen.

The Government has triggered its official pandemic plan and set up an incident management team.

So far 18 people have died and nearly 650 have been infected by the virus which is stemming from Wuhan in China.

There have been cases reported in the United States, Australia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea, but no confirmed cases in New Zealand yet.

Philippa Tolley speaks to the Director of Public Health, Dr Caroline McElnay.

The Chinese authorities have cancelled all large scale Lunar New Year celebrations in the capital, Beijing, in an effort to control the spread of a new respiratory virus.

Temple fairs are banned and Beijing's palace complex, the Forbidden City, will be closed to the public.

Two more Chinese cities are being isolated to try to contain the virus - which has killed seventeen people and infected hundreds.

RNZ's correspondent in Beijing is Patrick Fok.

National leader Simon Bridges has defended his meetings with controversial conservative figures during his trip to the Philippines.

The Opposition leader and three of his MPs have recently returned from a three day trip to Manila where they met high-powered diplomats and officials.

Among them: the country's Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. - also known as Teddy Boy.

In 2016, the politician endorsed some of Hitler's genocidal policies - tweeting that the country's drug menace needed a Final Solution like the Nazis adopted.

Bridges also met the former boxer turned Senator Manny Pacquiao - who has attracted criticism for past homophobic tweets.

But Bridges told RNZ reporter Sarah Robson the trip was a worthwhile and successful endeavour.

A dry spell is on the way which is expected to see much of the East Coast of both islands swelter in 30C plus heat.

Officials are warning of extreme fire danger for parts of the country and prohibiting a range of activities to try to prevent fires starting.

Fire and Emergency rural fire manager Tim Mitchell speaks to Philippa Tolley.

A child safety campaigner is calling for speed restrictions outside schools to be fast-tracked.

The government has committed to doing this over the next decade, with speed limits as low as 30km/h outside urban schools, and 60km/h outside rural schools.

One school that already has a lower speed limit, in this case 40km/h, is Owairaka District School in Mount Roskill.

The schools principal, Sheryl Fletcher, told reporter Ben Strang that lower speed limits make sense, and she didn't realise it wasn't already the law.

National says the government is doing a "lousy" job with its much vaunted reforms of the welfare system.

Figures released yesterday show the number of people on the benefit is increasing - up five percent - and special needs grants continue to increase.

Add to that the Ministry of Social Development has admitted that skyrocketing demand for hardship grants means Work and Income case managers haven't been able to spend as much time getting people into jobs.

National's Social Development spokesperson Louise Upston told our social issues reporter Sarah Robson that the government has only managed three out of 42 reforms recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group - and their focus is wrong.

One of our most-famous All Blacks could be getting a statue erected in his hometown, but the sculpture wasn't the first choice.

A seven-metre-tall depiction of Richie McCaw has been built by an artist in China after the Auckland Council rejected rejected the design in 2012.

McCaw's Canterbury hometown of Kurow was initially planning on commissioning it's own two-metre-tall figure of the former All Black captain, but wasn't able to raise the money and has now decided it may be cheaper to import the already-made version that Auckland Council didn't want.

The statue's fundraising committee chair Peter Ellis speaks to Corin Dann.

The northernmost two kilometres of State Highway One is closed this morning after a fire yesterday afternoon burned through more than a hectare of scrub before being brought under control.

The fire was brought under control a couple of hours after being reported about 3pm, using helicopters and ground crews.

A reason was not immediately clear to a transport agency spokesperson but it'll stop tourists getting to the northern tip of the country.

NZTA is asking people to avoid the area until emergency services can confirm the route as safe for travel.

RNZ reporter Jordan Bond spoke to Fire and Emergency spokesperson Dallas Ramsay.

Scientists in Australia have identified the world's oldest asteroid crater.

The asteroid hit Yarrabubba in Western Australia about 2.2 billion years ago.

That makes the crater about half the age of Earth and it may explain how the planet was lifted from an ice age.

A Senior Research Fellow from Curtin University in Perth is one of the scientists who made the discovery.

Aaron Cavosie speaks to Philippa Tolley.

New Zealand Sevens rugby comes of age this weekend as it celebrates its 21st birthday at the World Rugby Sevens tournament in Hamilton.

Twenty-eight teams will take part in the first fully integrated men's and women's international tournament to be played in New Zealand.

Here's our Waikato reporter, Andrew McRae.