At the beginning of March before New Zealand felt the full grip of Covid-19, Finance Minister Grant Roberson unveiled the wage subsidy scheme as an economic response to the virus. Video / Mark Mitchell
Commercial cleaners, personal shoppers, and those in food production are in demand as the impact of Coronavirus sets in.
Hospitals, fast food outlets, shopping malls, supermarkets, and transport hubs are among the many that have stepped up cleaning to stop the spread of Covid-19.
And online shopping has mushroomed as those self-isolating and social distancing purchase from home.
Supermarket home delivery and collection services are stretched with some booked a week in advance.
Pak n Save's 'Click and Collect" service was fully booked until Tuesday next week at some locations.
There is a week long wait for most grocery delivery and collection services. Photo / Getty
And shoppers placing orders online for New World and Countdown faced similar waits.
A spokeswoman from Foodstuffs, which owns Pak n Save and New World, said there had been an uplift of customers using both on-line delivery and Click and Collect in the last couple of weeks.
"Our delivery teams are currently working tirelessly to keep up with the increased demand," the spokeswoman said.
In America, online giant Amazon said it would hire 100,000 extra full and part-time staff to handle the surge in demand caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The company was to invest $350m to increase the hourly wage for workers in its warehouses and delivery infrastructure, as well as its grocery stores until at least the end of April.
Back in New Zealand smaller businesses providing meal delivery services had also seen a jump in orders as people filled their freezers.
Fitfood in Christchurch which produces a range of different ready-meals has seen three times the traffic to its site.
"We have had a lot more enquiries and our regular customers are making larger orders," owner Karen Olliver said.
"Our food is delivered fresh but it freezes well so people have been ordering it for elderly relatives."
Natalie Richards of Prep - a plant-based ready meal company - said the past three weeks has been the company's busiest ever.
Natalie Richards from meal delivery service Prep said the past three weeks had been her busiest ever. Photo / Supplied
"It has been full-on but we are lucky because our produce is all locally sourced so we haven't had any issues with supply," she said.
"We have delivered to customers in self-isolation and it's perfect because they order online and then we drop-off with no contact."
In American there has been a reported 75 percent spike in demand for cleaners and New Zealand is also seeing unprecedented growth.
There has been a rush for "deep cleans" of bathroom facilities, lifts and kitchens in large companies with ongoing and regular surface cleans.
As a result, there has been a steep increase in demand for commercial cleaning services.
Ash Taylor from Total Property Services said phones were "running hot" with enquiries from new and existing customers.
"There has been an increased demand for touch-point cleaning especially from those with a public-facing business," he said.
"We do a hospital-grade clean so it's also about giving companies assurance they are doing enough."
Rob Goddard, director of Innoway Cleaning Supplies, said there had been a 300 percent increase in demand for sanitising units and products, hand towels and toilet paper.
Sanitising units were now common features in supermarkets, train and ferry stations, and schools.
The company supplies Tork branded products to commercial cleaners throughout New Zealand.
"Our toilet paper is made by Tork in Kawerau so there is no supply issue and it's great to support New Zealand made products at this time," Goddard said.
"The Tork factory is powered by steam so it's the greenest toilet paper you can get and there is no carbon footprint."
Auckland Transport had provided hand sanitisers to all frontline staff and had stepped up cleaning of handrails and other surfaces.
"We have plans to carry out even more extensive cleaning of our buses, trains, ferries, and facilities if recommended by the Ministry of Health," a spokesperson said.
