South Waikato is kicking its Covid-19 response up a gear with the revelation a person who later tested positive for the virus spent the night in Tokoroa. 

Two new cases were also reported yesterday in nearby Ōtorohanga.

The daily case numbers remain in the single digits and the region is trying to keep it that way.

Emma Hatton reports.

A brief update from the RNZ sports team.

News from the rural and farming sector.

Alec Baldwin says he is heart-broken over firing a live round from a prop gun that fatally wounded his film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Film director Joel Souza who was standing behind her was also wounded.

Entertainment reporter Ira Spitzer spoke to Morning Report.

A brief update from the business sector.

Massey University researchers talked to more than a 170 children in years four to eight after last year's lockdown.

They've produced a report which has found there have been positive learning outcomes.

Professor Roseanna Bourke is one of the authors.

Across Auckland this morning, senior students are packing their school bags and putting on their uniforms to return to classrooms, after 10 weeks of learning from home.

Years 11, 12 and 13 can return to in-person learning, with everyone wearing masks.

But, the end of the year is looming - with just four weeks to prepare them for the start of NCEA exams.

Auckland Secondary School Principals Association president Steven Hargreaves spoke to Susie Ferguson.

Top stories this morning... After 10 weeks of learning from home, about sixty-thousand Auckland school students are heading back to school this morning. The Deputy Prime Minister, Grant Robertson, joins us And a woman who's fearing for her life in Afghanistan can't leave because New Zealand immigration officers have her passport

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

The small township of Mangaweka is known as the gateway to the genuine thrills of the Rangitikei River, but once a year it brings in many visitors keen to experience the pleasures of fake art.

Now in its seventh year, the Fakes and Forgeries Festival starts tomorrow at Richard Aslett's Yellow Church Gallery.

The festival turns on a surprisingly popular competition to see who can come up with the best replica of a celebrated work of art.

Aslett spoke to Susie Ferguson.