As New Zealanders head into the first weekend of Level 2, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield shares what we all have to do. Video / Supplied
As New Zealand celebrates another day with no new coronavirus cases, the inside story is revealed about how the country has reached the cusp of an unexpected victory in the war against Covid-19. Get all the important news and read the full stories in the links below.
Key developments in NZ
• As New Zealand enjoys its first weekend of alert level 2, the Ministry of Health has confirmed there are no new cases of Covid-19. A total of 95 per cent of all cases have recovered, while there are three people in hospital – none of whom are in intensive care. The Ministry of Health said the country still had 16 "significant clusters".
• The Auckland high school at the centre of one of the country's largest Covid-19 outbreaks will reopen on Monday despite a "new" case reported this week. Marist College said the person, who was sick with symptoms of the virus in late March but previously tested negative, was not considered to be infectious. Their case came to light after the entire school was recently re-tested, and was a "weakly positive" test.
• Health inequity could pose a major risk to poorer communities if Covid-19 surged in New Zealand, according to new modelling. Researchers at Te Pūnaha Matatini, New Zealand's Centre of Research Excellence in Complex Systems and Data Analytics, have also found that reopening Kiwi schools would be unlikely to result in more cases.
In depth
• In mid-January a small team in Wellington, buried deep in the bowels of the public service, were the only people in New Zealand really interested in 2019-nCoV. Two months later, the virus was a globe-consuming pandemic that had killed more than 100,000, made millions more unemployed, and stopped entire nations in their tracks. Matt Nippert pieces together 2540 pages of recently released official documentation, and interviews with government insiders, to report on how late-night Cabinet teleconferences, rushed missteps - and no small amount of good fortune - saw New Zealand locked down and now on the cusp of an unexpected victory in the war against Covid-19.
• Concerns over personal protective equipment have been raised at another rest home where residents died after contracting Covid-19, amid calls for greater oversight of a sector that looks after our most vulnerable.
Business update
• After an initial round of applause for a well balanced Budget, economists have delivered a sobering wake-up call to the Government about the challenge ahead.
• As coronavirus restrictions continue to lift around Australia, the country is being warned the virus could "take hold" if people don't get themselves tested, as Australia reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in almost a month.
• A photojournalist switched careers and became an EMT just months before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Recently, he brought his camera along to document what he and his crew are seeing.
