Christchurch has another coronavirus-related death - a man in his 60s from the Rosewood Rest Home & Hospital.
The man died in its hospital wing - the second to do so. He was the 10th person from the rest home on Woodham Rd in Linwood to die from the virus.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in the Canterbury District Health Board area remains 158, with no new cases reported in the last 24 hours.
In the region, 97 people have recovered so far. Eight people remain in hospital nationwide, with one in ICU.
The cases in South Canterbury remains unchanged over the past 24 hours at 16.
In total New Zealand had five new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours - two confirmed and three probable.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay are giving today's briefing on the Covid-19 crisis.
McElnay said the latest death once again illustrated the impact of this disease.
Regarding the new cases, McElnay said one was linked to overseas travel, three to existing clusters and one was under investigation.
In total, 1095 people have recovered from Covid-19 in New Zealand. There are eight people in hospital, with one in ICU in Middlemore
There were 6961 tests yesterday - a new daily record - and 108,238 in total have now been processed.
Robertson said each person who died was someone who was loved and said thoughts were with their families who were grieving in the "most difficult" of circumstances.
Robertson said ongoing vigilance at level 4 and 3 was vital.
Robertson is updating details about economic recovery plans.
The economic plan to respond and recover came in three waves, he said.
The first has already been under way, fighting the virus and cushioning the economic impact.
Various groups had worked hard to fight for their industries, he said.
This has been a true New Zealand effort to fight the once in a century virus, he said.
Wave two of the economic plan would get under way under alert level 3, with more industries and businesses opening up, he said.
Wave three was ensuring we have a robust and regenerating economy and will look at productivity, sustainability and inequality.
Speaking about wage subsidy audits, Robertson said they needed to protect the integrity of the scheme.
"It is great to see these 99 per cent of business owners doing right by their employees."
Robertson said every business applying for the scheme had to declare, then stand by, the fact their income had been reduced 30 per cent.
He warned there would be a "broad sweep" across businesses which applied.
He encouraged any business which had come to realise their circumstances meant their incomes weren't as badly hit as expected, they should pay it back.
Robertson said low income New Zealanders were struggling under Covid-19 and there were various support schemes in place to help them.
On Sport, detailed guidance would be released this afternoon about what sport and recreation activity could happen under alert level 3.
More recreation activities were now possible, including fishing from the shore, hunting under restrictions and activities like tennis.
More information is on the Sport NZ website, he said.
Robertson and Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni earlier today announced a dedicated investigations team to look into complaints about businesses taking advantage of the wage subsidy scheme.
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has so far undertaken more than 2400 random and targeted audits of businesses.
Almost 1300 applicants have voluntarily advises they would pay back the subsidy – totaling $16.2 million, according to MSD figures.
And 56 applications being asked to refund either all or part of the subsidy.
They are required to pay back $1.25 million – MSD is now looking into criminal prosecutions.
