Morning Report for Wednesday 25 March 2020

6:06 AM.The New Zealand Olympic Committee supports the decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics to 2021, the first such delay in the Games' 124-year modern history, as the coronavirus crisis wrecked the last… Read more Audio

6:11 AM.An employment lawyer is warning many workers will fall through the cracks under the Government's Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme.

The Finance Minister Grant Robertson has dramatically expanded the… Read more Audio

6:14 AM.A mortgage holiday repayment scheme is being warmly welcomed by landlords, but hitting all the wrong notes with some renters.

The government announced yesterday that banks have agreed people hit in… Read more Audio

6:18 AM.Queenstown's mayor fears thousands of migrant workers in Queenstown may struggle to have food or shelter after losing their jobs and becoming stranded.

Jim Boult says some will need urgent government… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.A brief update from the business sector. Read more Audio

6:22 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:36 AM.Jesse Stevens is a New Zealander in a suburb of Barcelona and has been in lockdown for 10 days.

The government has recently extended the lockdown there until April 12.

He speaks to Corin Dann. Read more Audio

6:43 AM.Parliament will urgently convene one last time this afternoon to put the country in a State of Emergency before shutting up shop over the four-week lockdown.

MPs will then head into self-isolation -… Read more Audio

6:46 AM.There's concern some small businesses will decide they might as well go out of business, despite the government launching more measures to help them survive the impacts of Covid-19.

Yesterday Finance… Read more Audio

6:53 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:06 AM.The New Zealand Olympic Committee says the decision to postpone the Tokyo Games to next year gives athletes the certainty they need during the coronavirus pandemic. Read more Audio

7:10 AM.The clock is ticking, in just under seventeen hours, the country will be in a coronavirus lockdown.

Everything will be shut and everyone will be stuck in their homes - unless they're involved in an… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.The Council of Trade Unions is accusing some employers of bad behaviour in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.

One of the complaints is that employers are compelling staff to use sick leave or annual… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Hospitals and medical centres could face a shortage of doctors and nurses tomorrow.

That's the warning of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists which says there hasn't been enough time for… Read more Audio

7:27 AM.Parliament is being suspended for almost five weeks after urgent business is dealt with today.

A new cross-party committee has been set up to allow for continued scrutiny of the government's Covid-19… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.The Tokyo Olympic Games are being postponed.

The games were due to begin on 24 July will now take place no later than next year's northern hemisphere summer.

The delay, the first ever in peacetime… Read more Audio

7:44 AM.Germany is organising mercy flights to repatriate its citizens from New Zealand.

The first flight is expected to arrive on Friday.

Thomas Sparrow is our correspondent in Berlin. Read more Audio

7:48 AM.Worried parents from an Auckland secondary school are trying to work out how to best isolate their children after the whole school was declared closed because of coronavirus.

There are now four… Read more Audio

7:50 AM.Families are asking for clarity around care arrangements for children whose parents are separated.

With the lockdown coming into place tonight there are questions about what will be allowed and what… Read more Audio

7:54 AM.Around 800,000 children are about to learn that there's no escape from school work - even during a global pandemic and national lockdown.

They've been ordered home for nearly five weeks and today… Read more Audio

7:57 AM.Two-thirds of New Zealand's Covid-19 cases so far are in older people but the patterns are still too "idiosyncratic" to draw any strong predictions from, a researcher modelling the virus says.

New… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.The New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Kereyn Smith says kiwi athletes are largely relieved by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to next year. Audio

8:09 AM.The country will be in lockdown from midnight for at least the next four weeks.

Councils will still be providing essential services.

Lianne Dalziel is the mayor of Christchurch, Phil Goff is the… Read more Audio

8:19 AM.The Covid-19 contact tracing system is coming under increased pressure and scrutiny.

The Health Ministry says tracing is vital but admits its new national tracing centre is locked into using only its… Read more Audio

8:25 AM.New Zealand is going into lockdown tonight to flatten the curve of Covid-19 transmission.

At the moment New Zealand has 155 cases and probable of the new coronavirus, and 12 people have recovered.

… Read more Audio

8:29 AM.Business NZ says the government's financial scheme will lift the weight off the shoulders of many small businesses.

A six-month mortgage holiday and helping banks make credit available are just some… Read more Audio

8:29 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:39 AM.Two German tourists in New Zealand are relieved they will be able to head home, after the German government announced it will evacuate nearly 80,000 of its citizens stranded abroad.

Susi Vormwald and… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympics Games are being postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The delay, the first ever in peacetime. was agreed between the Japanese Prime Minister and the head of… Read more Audio

8:51 AM.Being isolated in our homes is something most of us are going to have to get used for the next four weeks or longer.

Some people have a head start, having arrived in New Zealand after the Government… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.As we prepare to enter lockdown, all remaining gatherings such as concerts - even those without audiences - are now cancelled.

That extends to a planned New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performance… Read more Audio