Covid-19 coronavirus: Racial abuse, top official's plea for calm; US becomes epicentre, New York may be quarantined

Normally a bustling eight-lane link, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was eerily quiet at 5pm on day 1 of the lockdown. NZME's Steve Keats shot this image using a drone with an 8km range.

VIRUS LATEST
* 83 new NZ cases reported - now up to 451, as Jacinda Ardern fronts up on social media
* The US has become the epicentre of the global pandemic, with more than 100,000 cases and nearly 1600 deaths; Trump considers quarantining New York
* Spain suffers a big rise in deaths - up 832 - as the number of cases around the world passes 615,000
* Hospitals order tents to triage patients
* Comment: 'We're not 'just' being asked to stay home - it's bigger than that'
* How the rich and famous are living in level-4 lockdown
* Latest developments and essential information

Reports of online anti-Chinese sentiment, relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, are worrying top Government officials, who are pleading with New Zealanders to "be kind to each other".

The threats to people in the Chinese community have become so bad that some of those being abused are talking about arming themselves to form vigilante groups.

Police said they would talk to the people who had made those comments. One group member told the Herald there had been an increase in online attacks against the Chinese community in recent days, and the groups were a way of "protecting ourselves".

More than 615,000 cases of Covid 19 have now been confirmed across the world, with 177 countries affected. More than 28,700 people have died.

The United States has become the epicentre of the global pandemic, with more than 100,000 confirmed infections and nearly 1600 deaths.

President Donald Trump said he was considering a quarantine on New York, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. He said had spoken with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo this morning and might make a decision later today.

Normally a bustling eight-lane link, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was eerily quiet at 5pm on day 1 of the lockdown. NZME's Steve Keats shot this image using a drone with an 8km range.

Cuomo anticipates the coronavirus outbreak in New York state will reach its apex in "14 to 21 days," based on health and science data projections, he said during a news conference. New York is the hardest-hit state in the United States so far, with more than 52,000 confirmed cases and at least 728 deaths.

In sharing the forecast of infections yet to come, Cuomo reiterated his call for more personal protective gear like masks and gowns and crucially, ventilators. Trump has previously publicly questioned Cuomo's request for the lifesaving equipment and doubted the need 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators.

Meanwhile, Spain has suffered another staggering surge in coronavirus deaths overnight as it struggles to fight back against the disease.

Another 832 new fatalities were recorded in Spain on Saturday – its highest single-day jump since the beginning of the pandemic – raising its death toll to just under 5700. Its number of cases also rose to around 72,000 on Saturday.

In New Zealand, speaking to reporters yesterday, Civil Defence Emergency Management director Sarah Stuart-Black called for calm.

"We need to look out for each other – now more than ever, to unite against Covid-19."

Her comments followed reports of online abuse towards people with confirmed, or probable, Covid-19.

"It's not acceptable to be attacking people who have been caught up in the pandemic."

This comes as New Zealand enters day four of the lockdown.

The Government's lockdown taskforce yesterday confirmed 451 people in New Zealand have, or are likely to have, Covid-19.

Of those infected, 12 are in hospital and two are in intensive care in a "critical" state.

Although it is known that one of the cases is in Nelson Hospital, Stuart-Black was unable to provide details for privacy reasons.

But she did confirm that 50 people have recovered from the virus.

The total number of people with Covid-19 worldwide is now close to 600,000 – almost 27,000 have died.

Among the new Covid-19 cases is British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – he took to social media yesterday to tell the public he had "mild symptoms" and was now in self-isolation.

He urged people to comply with safety and isolation measures to make sure the UK "comes through this epidemic".

That is a similar message that New Zealand Government officials and ministers have been hammering home for days.

The message from the Covid-19 response team was clear yesterday: "Stay local and stick to your bubble".

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

If people break the rules, Stuart-Black said it's more likely the lockdown period would increase.

When asked if she thought the lockdown period would be extended, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the Nation she "believes in New Zealanders".

"I have faith in us as a nation to do this."

Stuart-Black told media 83 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed yesterday.

Among those are eight Air New Zealand long-haul fleet employees, the airline confirmed.

The infected staff worked on Los Angeles and London flights.

An Air NZ spokeswoman said one staff member had recovered.

The number of new confirmed cases yesterday was two fewer than the number of new cases confirmed on Friday.

Stuart-Black and Ardern have warned the number will continue to climb for at least another nine days.

"Don't be disheartened when you continue to see our numbers increase," Ardern said.

"I expect that we will have a number of cases and those cases will grow steeply because of the lag period of Covid-19."

Until then, New Zealand's compliance level needs to be high, she said.

"We just can't tolerate anyone flouting the rules."

All of Government controller John Ombler, head of the Government's Covid-19 task force, had a similar message.

He said most people were following the new rules - but there had been a few reports of people congregating.

In fact, he told media he had heard reports of people playing touch rugby.

"That's just stupid. Don't do it."

So far, there have been no arrests, he confirmed.

There have been a number of examples where people have not been playing by the lockdown rules.

Between 11pm Thursday night and 8am Friday morning, police received 396 calls relating to Covid-19 and 279 related to self-isolation breaches.

This comes when many healthcare workers remain worried about running out of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks and gowns.

But the Prime Minister had a clear message for front line workers: "We have the stock".

Ardern said the Government had 18 million face masks and a fully functioning factory that makes up to 80,000 face masks a day in Whanganui.

"We have a good supply, so we do want to tighten up that distribution network."

Not long after Ardern's comments, the Government announced it would waive import tax on all medical and hygiene imports needed for its Covid-19 response.

"We are encouraging other countries to join us in this commitment as soon as possible," Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker said.

From yesterday, the Government will apply a tariff concession to a range of products critical to its Covid-19 response.

These include testing kits, soap imports and diagnostic reagents.

And this is just the first step, Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said.