There are nine new coronavirus cases in New Zealand and one additional death. The death brings the total toll to 12 and is of a man in Invercargill who died at home and who was linked to the Bluff wedding cluster.
New Zealand will find out at 4pm tomorrow whether the country will come out of level 4 lockdown on Thursday, as more information is revealed about which businesses will be allowed to open at level 3. Get all the important news and read the full stories in the links below.
Key developments in NZ
• Kiwis will find out at 4pm tomorrow whether the country will come out of lockdown on Thursday, and move to alert level 3. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the news at a media briefing today, where it was also revealed that there are nine new coronavirus cases in New Zealand – four confirmed and five probable - and one further death. The death brings the total toll to 12 and is of a man in his 70s in Invercargill, who was linked to the Bluff wedding cluster. The total of confirmed and probable cases in New Zealand is now 1431, and 912 people have recovered - an increase of 45 from yesterday. There are 18 people in hospital, including one each in ICU at Middlemore, Dunedin and North Shore hospital, with two in a critical condition.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / Getty Images
• News that a baby boy is among New Zealand's latest Covid-19 cases has further dispelled the myth children can't catch the virus, at a time when parents contemplate a potential return to school for some youngsters. Three boys aged under 1 year old have now caught the virus in New Zealand - two infants in the country's far south, and one in Waikato. Further muddying the waters about children and the coronavirus outbreak is their potential role as spreaders, which could become an increased risk at alert level 3, when children are allowed to return to school if no one is available to care for them at home.
• New data from Google shows New Zealanders have been sticking to the lockdown plan - and the massive drop in public-place activity since the lockdown began has continued. The number of visitors to places such as parks and beaches dropped 75 per cent in the past six weeks, while workplaces are down almost 60 per cent. And despite fears people would stop taking the lockdown seriously partway through, the data doesn't show movement increasing over time.
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Around the world
• The United States is struggling to test enough people to track and control the spread of Covid-19 - a crucial first step to reopening parts of the economy, which President Donald Trump is pushing to do by May 1. Trump released a plan to ease business restrictions that hinges on a downward trajectory of positive tests. But more than a month after he declared, "Anybody who wants a test, can get a test", the reality has been much different.
• The President of the United States and the Governor of New York have started their own personal war as they both try to grapple with the state's coronavirus outbreak, which is now the deadliest in the world. Trump told New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to "spend more time doing and less time complaining" in a pointed tweet in response to a televised briefing Cuomo had given. Cuomo fired back at the President, saying he should "get up and go to work" rather than being at home "watching TV". The United States is the country worst affected by the coronavirus, with more than 732,000 cases and 38,000 deaths. New York State is the country's coronavirus epicentre, and has been badly affected, with more than 13,200 deaths.
Business update
• Many New Zealand businesses are hoping that a move to alert level 3 will enable much-needed economic activity, but level 3 - whenever it arrives - isn't carte blanche to bring employees back to the office, shop or factory floor. The Herald has compiled all the answers to frequently asked questions from both business owners and employees about which workplaces will be able to open at level 3 – and if so, what restrictions need to be in place.
Medical staff test a shopper in his car who volunteered at a pop-up community Covid-19 testing station at a supermarket carpark in Christchurch. Photo / AP
• Right now New Zealand looks on track to emerge faster than many countries from the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic – which is extremely good news from a health perspective, and also extremely good news for the economy, writes Liam Dann, who argues that acting firmly has put the country on the quickest possible path to recovery.
• The Kiwi former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency believes the coronavirus pandemic has provided an unprecedented window for athletes who want to cheat, as drug testing has been shut down across the globe. Wada suspended its programmes last month, and since testing programmes became widespread in the mid-1980s, there has never been such an extended period where potential dopers knew they wouldn't be receiving a knock at the door.
Check our graphic for the latest case numbers in New Zealand.
