Nine To Noon

England football correspondent Matt Dathan reports from Wembley.

ESR virologist Dr Sue Huang is calling for more, and urgent, research into the contagious and potentially fatal respiratory virus RSV, as case numbers soar among babies and children, inundating hospitals. The most recent weekly numbers of Respiratory Syncytial Virus reported by New Zealand's national virus laboratory network show cases started climbing sharply in June, reaching 538 cases in the last week of the month alone. The current increase of cases is linked to the re-opening of our borders with Australia in late-April. Starship hospital is postponing surgeries to make room for an influx of children needing treatment, and latest reports show Wellington is also experiencing an alarming growth of RSV, with 26 children now in Wellington Regional Hospital, including three babies in intensive care.

Fire and Emergency, dogged for years by reports of bullying and harassment, has its first ever woman chairperson. Rebecca Keoghan has been appointed by the Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti to lead the board , taking over from the former Labour Minister Paul Swain. An independent review into the culture at FENZ, published in 2019, found bullying and harassment featured in the workplace at all levels and across all regions, but there were barriers to reporting it. There have been calls for a completely independent complaints body to be established to deal with claims of bullying and harassment, and the Professional Firefighters Union has said it has no faith in the current FENZ Chief Executive Rhys Jones. Jan Tinetti says Ms Keoghan's appointment is hugely significant and she will strongly push for culture change within FENZ.

Legal commentator Garth Gallaway looks at how difficult it can be to prove a charge of recklessness in workplace prosecutions after a recent case involving Waste Management. He'll also look at the number of investigations taken by WorkSafe last year, which was significantly lower. He'll also talk about a new initiative designed to help poor performing companies or businesses improve their workplace safety. Garth Gallaway is a partner at Chapman Tripp in Christchurch.

Sarah Powell is an emerging Wellington author. At 23, she's just written her first book Alyssa:Welcome to New York a young adult dystopian adventure novel set in New York, the first in series. It's a story she's been itching to tell since she first came up with the idea with a group of friends in high school. But she put it on the backburner, in favour of pursuing a career in medicine, and following in the footsteps of her parents. But in her third year of medical school she realised she'd made a mistake - and she had a book to write. Sarah Powell joins Kathryn in the Wellington studio.

Holly Walker reviews Stranger Care by Sarah Sentilles published by Text Publishing.

As a child growing up in the suburbs of London in the 1980s, Adam Andrusier became obsessed with collecting autographs of the rich and famous - Ray Charles, Elizabeth Taylor, Neil Armstrong, Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin are just a few of the names he collected. What started at the age of 10 has led to a career as a professional autograph dealer. Adam is now an internationally recognised dealer of autographs and historical documents, and has worked as an expert authenticator for Christie's and Bonhams auction houses. He's just released a book, Two Hitlers and a Marilyn, a coming-of-age memoir about autographs, autograph collecting, and celebrity obsession.

Karen joins Kathryn for the latest on the Covid outbreaks in Australia as it's expected Sydney will face another week of lockdown, the NRL reels from another scandal as it was revealed 13 players from St George Illawarra held a party last weekend against the Covid-restrictions, a former Liberal MP Julia Banks has made a claim of a brazen act of inappropriate touching by a colleague at Parliament House and anyone who leaked Malcolm Turnbull's memoir ahead of publication has been sent a bill for $49.95.

New research into post-cardiac arrest care has turned treatment advice on its head and will lead to significant clinical changes in intensive care units in New Zealand and internationally. A study found that cooling survivors of cardiac arrest to below a normal body temperature does not improve patient survival or recovery. Therapeutic hypothermia has been a cornerstone of ICU treatment globally for the past 20 years and is part of standard care to limit brain damage. Kathryn speaks with Professor Paul Young, deputy director at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand and the lead New Zealand investigator on the study, which was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Covid death toll in Fiji has risen to 39, with six more deaths due to the Delta variant and an additional 636 cases in the past 24 hours. Kathryn speaks to Sun Fiji News' Suva chief Jyoti Pratibha and Fiji opposition leader Biman Prasad, who says the government’s actions are totally frustrating and more help from New Zealand is needed.