Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.

Today’s content

Government, Parliament
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ politics enters a brave new world
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern just made the most consequential decision of her career, putting NZ on house arrest
Claire Trevett (Herald): The two Covid-19 numbers that sent PM Jacinda Ardern to lockdown (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): We’re going into lockdown. Here’s why
Richard Harman (Politik): Running the country during the lockdown
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Shutdown is all about trying to kill Covid-19
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Government made the right decision on lockdown
John Armstrong (1News): It may be time for Government, Opposition to unite in war-like cabinet amid coronavirus (published prior to raising Alert level)
Liam Hehir (Pundit): Not A Grand Coalition, But A Government Of National Salvation
1News: Simon Bridges calls for calm, as he announces support for coronavirus lockdown
Newshub: National will still hold Govt to account, Bridges ‘supportive’ of new measures
RNZ: Bridges on lockdown: ‘National stands ready and willing to help’
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): National Party leader Simon Bridges suspends campaign, reacts to going to level 4
ODT Editorial: Lockdown for an extreme challenge
Herald Editorial: Ominous Covid-19 coronavirus lessons on action for NZ (paywalled)
RNZ: Election to go ahead in September, despite lockdown starting this week
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Parliament to shut down with no fixed return date

Lockdown
Laine Moger (Stuff): What is an epidemic notice and what does it mean for New Zealanders?
Scott Palmer (Newshub): What emergency powers the government will get
Chris Keall (Herald): Can victims’ movements be tracked via their phones?
Thomas Manch (Stuff): The next 48 hours: What happens before New Zealand’s coronavirus lockdown
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Lockdown in the ‘land of plenty’
1News: Full list: Essential businesses during coronavirus lockdown
Jason Walls (Herald): What is an ‘essential’ service that can stay open?
1News: Air New Zealand increases domestic capacity over next 24 hours to meet demand
Bread Flahive (Stuff): What does New Zealand’s alert level 4 lockdown mean for travel?
Mel Logan and Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Ministry of Health considering quarantining anyone entering NZ
1News: Māori leaders push ahead with plans for roadblocks, checkpoints on tribal boundaries amid coronavirus lockdown
Kyle MacDonald (Herald): It’s OK to feel anxious about swift Covid-19 coronavirus shutdown (paywalled)

Public health strategy
Alan Kenyon (1News): ‘We can beat the virus’ – Kiwi expert ‘overjoyed’ with strict coronavirus lockdown measures
Michael Wright (Stuff): Level four lockdown ‘basically will save thousands of lives’
Fiona Connor (Newshub): ‘Same trajectory as Italy’: GP says NZ too late in raising coronavirus alert level
Prior to announcement: 
Vaughan Elder (ODT): Stark picture in worst-case scenario
RNZ: NZ must ‘work very hard to eradicate this infection now’ – epidemiologist
Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): The doctor behind the petition to move to alert level four
Jason Walls (Herald): Top science adviser says there is mounting evidence NZ needs to go into ‘extreme shutdown’
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Sir Peter Gluckman joins calls for extreme shutdown
Gordon Campbell: On going to Level Four (and scrapping the Olympics) right now
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Hone Harawira planning to lockdown the Far North
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): More iwi consider closing tribal borders amid Covid-19 outbreak

Social comment
Gavin Ellis: Adversity journalism
Phil Vine (Pundit): All Aboard The Covid Train
Simon Wilson (Herald): Diary of a pandemic: Autumn song (paywalled)
Anne Salmond (Spinoff): Times of trial
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Will COVID 19 kill neo-liberalism?
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): There must be some good to come out of all this

Economy, financial assistance
Tony Alexander (Stuff): Lockdown the price we pay to get through virus
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Economists: This will be bad but it could have been worse
Roger Partridge (Herald): How the Government can protect households and businesses (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): All Kiwis will receive financial support from Govt as NZ braces for level four lockdown
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): As credit markets panic, the Government is poised to make a stunning move into lending (paywalled)
RNZ: Support package for Covid-19 rises to $9.3b
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Priscilla Dickinson (Newshub): Quantitative easing ‘Massive’ for economy – experts
Jason Walls (Herald): Reserve Bank will buy $30b worth of Government bonds to help stimulate the economy
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): RBNZ launches quantitative easing
RNZ: Reserve Bank announces further measures to support economy
Liam Dann (Herald): QE Explainer – Reserve Bank move signals new era for NZ economy (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Reserve Bank turns on QE tap (paywalled)
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Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): What use are ratings agencies in the time of covid-19? (paywalled)

Employment
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): At alert level 4, what are my rights as a worker and employer?
RNZ: Workers set up home offices, while others worry about losing jobs
Daniel Dunkley (Stuff):Here’s where most New Zealanders are working

Enforcing lockdown
Anna Whyte (1News): Police will enforce Covid-19 lockdown ‘if required’, says Commissioner Mike Bush
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Defence Force, police to patrol streets during New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Police commissioner pleads with public to play by supermarket rules – people will die

Health system
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Where can you get tested for the virus?
Jamie Morton (Herald): NZ hospitals could treble ICU capacity to meet Covid-19 surge
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): New Zealand could ‘immediately’ triple its intensive care facilities if needed, say health officials
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Anxious Kiwis say Healthline wait times creeping past 4 hours
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Ministry of Health accused of major blunder after ‘low-risk’ student tests positive for COVID-19
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Elective procedures cancelled, rules for GP visits
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Going to the doctor has changed

Education
Simon Collins (Herald): Schools close indefinitely with just minutes’ notice
Nikki Preston (Herald): Guide to having your kids at home
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Announcement of schools closing ‘relief’
Simon Collins (Herald): Childcare centres expected to wipe parent fees
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Uni students desperate to get home before restrictions imposed
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Wellington’s Victoria University ‘unofficially’ informed staff member tested positive
ODT: Otago Uni suspends teaching immediately

Housing
Susan Edmunds and Rob Stock (Stuff): Renting, building, moving house: What does level four really mean?
Ben Leahy (Herald): Rent increases frozen, Government blocks landlords from raising residential rents
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Rental market ‘flooded’ with former Airbnb properties
Ben Leahy (Herald): Uncertainty sweeps over housing market

Shopping
1News: Supermarkets suggests households send one nominated shopper during lockdown
Matt Burrows (Newshub): New Zealand in panic-buying bedlam as police vow crackdown on rowdy supermarket shoppers

Tourists, immigration
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Tourists in New Zealand urged to ‘get home as soon as you can’
Kerrie Waterworth (ODT): Lockdown creates new Queenstown tourist trap
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Immigration NZ overwhelmed with calls about visa queries after border closure

Climate
Teuila Fuatai (Herald): Climate crisis lessons in Covid-19 coronavirus (paywalled)
Mia Sutherland (Stuff): A pandemic is no silver lining for the climate

Other
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Essential services promise to get people through
Todd Niall (Stuff): Shippers struggle to move freight in global knock-on
Adam Dudding and Eugene Bingham (Stuff): New podcast: Coronavirus NZ – New Zealand heads to shutdown
Sam Hurley (Herald): Supreme Court and many other courts to close doors this week ahead of lockdown
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): ‘Call congestion’ causes issues to phone networks across New Zealand
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Hundreds stopped from boarding flights to NZ
1News: Twenty-seven Hamilton rest home staff in self-isolation after resident tests positive for coronavirus
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Horticulture sector short 1300 seasonal workers