Smaller food bank operators are worried they are not receiving enough Government funding compared to larger charities; and Business New Zealand is worried small and medium sized firms are having difficulty borrowing cash offered through the Government’s guarantee scheme.
1.The head of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is worried by an upward trend in coronavirus cases in Africa, Central America, South America and Eastern Europe. Dr Ghebreyesus says the epidemic is in its early stages in most countries and some are experiencing a resurgence.
2.The Health Ministry has not ruled out using pandemic tracking technology from the Silicon Valley company Palantir. The firm which has links to the spy agencies around the world including New Zealand’s SIS and GCSB, has been in talks with the Ministry of Health.
3. A woman has described her short lived elation when her critically ill mother was described as stable at a Government Covid-19 briefing. The 62-year-old patient unconscious in Dunedin Hospital and on a ventilator has been called stable at Wellington briefings for the past two days.
4.It would be anyone’s worst nightmare: being stuck on a cruise ship, confined to your cabin, because more than half of the people on board have Covid-19. But that was the situation Hawke’s Bay-based Jeffrey Green was facing on the Greg Mortimer, as the expedition doctor for the cruise around South Georgia and Antarctica. By the time everyone was evacuated from the ship, more than half of the 217 passengers and crew had tested positive for Covid-19.
5.A Whanganui man who’s cancer surgery was postponed because of Covid-19 fears treatment delays could kill more patients than the virus. 14 people have so far died from Covid-19.
6.Smaller food bank operators are worried they are not receiving enough Government funding compared to larger charities. The Government has pledged $30 million to go towards welfare and food for those in need.
7.Sexual health specialist Dr Jane Morgan fears lockdown is leading to a surge in complications from sexually transmitted diseases. They warn some patients are seeking help only when their symptoms have become too bad to ignore.
8.Business New Zealand is worried small and medium sized firms are having difficulty borrowing cash offered through the Government’s guarantee scheme. The $6 billion initiative was announced nearly a month ago.
