Morning Report for Monday 24 January 2022

8:54 AM.Panmure locals are worried for the fate of an 'iconic' retro-style sign which they say is important to their community identity.

An online petition started just last week, has nearly one-thousand… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Major events are paying the price as stricter Covid-19 rules come into force.

Gatherings are now capped at 100 people if vaccine passes are enforced, cutting to 25 if not.

But the hospitality… Read more Audio

8:44 AM.Omicron is in the community and judging by pictures RNZ listeners have been sending through essentials are flying off supermarket shelves across the country.

It seems, the red-hot commodity once… Read more Audio

8:36 AM.A leading Australia-based epidemiologist says New Zealand's plan to slow the spread of Omicron is sensible and should help to reduce the peak of the outbreak.

The country is under the red traffic… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.Few groups have been following the current Omicron developments more closely than the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, whose members have already been grappling with the effects of widespread staff… Read more Audio

8:21 AM.After less than a month in the orange traffic light setting, Auckland residents are back to the more restricted Covid-19 red and the familiar anxiety that the virus - this time the Omicron strain - is… Read more Audio

8:13 AM.The National Party is supporting the Government's decision to shift to red light Covid-19 restrictions.

Party leader Christopher Luxon says the government should have been doing more to prepare… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.Māori health providers are in a race to vaccinate children and boost adult immunisations before Omicron spreads widely.

Ministry of Health data shows 93 percent of the wider Counties Manukau… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.New Zealand Navy's largest vessel the HMNZS Aotearoa is currently in Tonga to help with relief efforts.

The ship carrying 250,000 litres of water, life-saving essentials and desalination equipment… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.It's now been eight days since Tonga's volcanic eruption and tsunami, and the island nation faces a long road to recovery.

Almost 85 percent of the country's population of about 105,000 people has… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran says more crew are showing symptoms of Covid-19 and he expects a number of cases in the airline.

Air New Zealand has stood down 15 aircrew members as close… Read more Audio

7:28 AM.An 11-year-old boy who was left disabled by a botched birth has finally been given ACC cover after a five-year battle.

But his family says the win is bittersweet, because it highlights the two-tier… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Te Punaha Matatini's Michael Plank is one of the country's most respected modellers, but even he says Omicron can be a tricky virus to get one's figures around.

Professor Plank has said the peak of… Read more Audio

7:15 AM.Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins is warning the public to expect large number of Covid-19 cases, and not to rely on masks to stop it.

The entire country is now in red traffic light setting… Read more Audio

7:12 AM.Paracetamol is flying off supermarket shelves as the country goes into red.

The Government has asked people to be prepared if they need to isolate at home and not leave their house, even for… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.New Zealand has moved to a new phase of the pandemic as it battles to slow down the rapacious spread of Omicron.

The Government says it has plans in place to cope with as many as 50,000 cases a day -… Read more Audio

6:48 AM.More shipping containers are urgently needed thanks to an overwhelming response from the Tongan community to a donation drive at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium.

MP for Panmure-Otahuhu and co-chair of… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.Intensive care units are gearing up for a truly intense time over the coming weeks as the country grapples with the Omicron wave.

The College of Critical Care Nurses has calculated that the country… Read more Audio

6:41 AM.Data modellers believe half of all New Zealanders could be infected with Omicron within four months.

The highly infectious Covid-19 variant is circulating in Auckland, and possibly in the Nelson… Read more Audio

6:22 AM.To the UK, where the ruling Conservative Party has another internal row on its hands.

Former minister Nusrat Ghani has told a newspaper that she was sacked from her job because her Muslim faith made… Read more Audio

6:15 AM.Nelson Airport, two supermarkets and a car parts store in Motueka are among the locations of interest linked to 10 members in a household confirmed to have the Omicron variant.

Today the… Read more Audio

6:07 AM.New Zealanders everywhere are waking up this morning and seeing red.

It's a red traffic light for the whole country now, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has indicated the colour won't be changing… Read more Audio