First Up for Thursday 18 February 2021

5:51 AM.Nathan Rarere discussed the alert level changes with University of Otago professor of Epidemiology Dr Michael Baker. Audio

5:48 AM.The alert level change was met with relief - and a bit of anxiety - on the streets of Auckland, as our reporter Ella Stewart found out. Audio

5:36 AM.The Pike River Recovery Agency has reached the furthest point that it plans to go to in the mine re-entry operation. On Tuesday, recovery workers reached the roof fall - 2.26 kilometres up the mine… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.We have heard a lot lately about the collapse of international tourism and the impact of that on the West Coast glacier towns of Franz Josef and Fox - which relied on it. Franz is still waiting to… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.James Wenley is a lecturer in Theatre at Victoria University of Wellington but this week he's putting down the white board marker to be on stage himself. The academic has been working on an… Read more Audio

5:14 AM.This week's new MP is Labour's Northcote representative, Shanan Halbert. Mr Halbert took the Northcote seat off National's incumbent Dan Bidois in the 2020 General Election and says it was a hard… Read more Audio

5:10 AM.Nathan caught up with our Vienna, Austria correspondent Catherine Walbridge where Austria's neighbour is closing its borders. Audio