Nine To Noon for Thursday 30 April 2020

 

 

09:05 COVID-19 vaccine strategy needed, & now!

Infectious disease experts say the government must develop a national vaccine strategy, and someone to lead it. It comes as fears mount that New Zealand could be at the back of the queue for a Covid-19 vaccine. It's estimated that at best, a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away, or longer, if not developed here. Add to that no human ever encountered it before December 2019, so no-one had any COVID-19 reference material, and we don't have vaccines against any coronavirus yet.

Kathryn Ryan talks to the University of Queensland's Ian Frazer who worked on the HPV vaccine, University of Otago infectious disease specialist Professor David Murdoch, Wellington's Malaghan Institute director, Graham Le Gros and Dr George Laking from Doctors for Healthy Trade about their concerns.

09:40 One third of commercial rents unpaid last month

New data shows one third of commercial tenants did not pay rent in April. The cloud based commercial property software firm Re-leased manages invoicing and payments for more than 10,000 properties including 35,000 leases around the country, covering retail, office space and industrial properties. Founder Tom Wallace says rent from the retail sector was down 53 per cent last month, with office and industrial rents down by around a third. The government says it is working on measures to help commercial tenants and landlords but no details are available yet. Kathryn speaks with Tom Wallace, and Leonie Freeman from the Property Council.

09:45 Boris Johnson welcomes new baby, Covid death toll hits 26,000

UK correspondent Harriet Line joins Kathryn to talk about the arrival of a son for Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds, which the pair had said was due in "early summer". The country's Covid death toll has risen above 26,000 as figures for those who died outside of the hospital system were included. PPE problems persist, and 100 NHS and social care workers are now known to have died.

10:05 Sleepless in pandemic: How to get a good night's sleep through the Covid crisis

If you're having trouble sleeping at the moment, you're probably not the only one. We're living through something akin to a nightmare, so it's little wonder a good night's sleep might be hard to find. Dr Giresh Kanji has researched the effects of stress and pain on the body, and how it often leads to poor sleep and anxiety. He joins Kathryn to talk about his new book, Brain Connections: Sleep Well & Energise: A No-Pills Approach.

10:35 Book review - The Burning River by Lawrence Patchett

Harry Ricketts reviews The Burning River by Lawrence Patchett, published by Victoria University Press.

10:45 The Reading

The Bright Side of My Condition, episode 7. Written by Charlotte Randall, read by Brian Sergent.

11:05 Home-grown cyber attacks increase under lockdown

Technology commentator Tony Grasso looks at why New Zealand's cyber attacks grew 24 percent in the first three weeks of lockdown, and why they seem to be domestic in origin. He also tells Kathryn, businesses shouldn't be complacent - there's a good chance something will happen to that data. So what's the solution - and what do our large IT providers need to be doing?

Tony Grasso is director of technology at cyber security consultants Cyber Toa.

11:25 What? Where? When? Why preschoolers need to ask questions

Wellington speech and language therapist Christian Wright shares ideas to help develop preschoolers ability to understand and ask questions.

11:45 Too Hot to Handle, Love is Blind, Cheer

Sarah McMullan looks at the spate of new dating shows hitting New Zealand TV screens, including the three week experiment "Love is Blind". She'll also talk about the fascination with cheerleading, with shows "Cheer" and "Dare Me".