UK unemployment spikes as we plunge into Covid recession, and New Zealand faces virus return

After 102 days with no locally transmitted infections, coronavirus is back in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed four cases have been found in Auckland, the country's biggest city, which has now been put into lockdown. Restrictions are being increased in the rest of the country, with people being asked by the government to wear masks for the first time. Radio New Zealand host Karyn Hay joins the podcast and tells us how shops had to shut their doors to protect their staff after panic buyers descended on them almost immediately after the news broke.

Also, almost three quarters of a million jobs have been lost in the British economy since the start of the coronavirus lockdown. The Office for National Statistics says  730,289 fewer people were receiving a wage from an employer in July than in March, when Boris Johnson issued the “stay at home” order. The Evening Standard's consumer business editor Jonathan Prynn says the figures are the worst since 2009, and could get higher still as the furlough scheme comes to an end.

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