Checkpoint for Thursday 23 April 2020

6:26 PM.A New Plymouth beauty salon owner is going the extra mile in an attempt to save her business and the jobs of her employees - which are teetering on a knife's edge due to the Covid-19 crisis.

… Read more Audio

6:22 PM.With lockdown alert level 3 approaching, small, independent restaurants and cafes are coming up with ways of making sure they can still deliver to hungry customers.

From a group of Wellington… Read more Video, Audio

6:17 PM.Some families stuck in India since lockdown have been forced to pay up to $30,000 to get on a repatriation flight home.

Early on Friday morning, an Air NZ 777 will take off from New Delhi. And as… Read more Audio

6:14 PM.The Kohanga Reo National Trust has advised all kohanga reo to remain closed under alert level 3, saying they are not willing to risk transmitting the virus to its vulnerable kaumatua or to whānau.

It… Read more Audio

6:10 PM.A Covid-19 centre in South Auckland is testing people who aren't showing any symptoms in a bid to reach at-risk Pacific communities.

Ministry of Health guidelines require testing of those with at… Read more Audio

6:07 PM.Media companies hard hit by plummeting advertising revenue since the start of Covid-19 level 4 lockdown have been offered a lifeline by the government in the form of a $50 million support package.

… Read more Audio

5:51 PM.The days may seem like they're merging into one, but New Zealand has been in level 4 lockdown a month now.

The Oliver family of Pukekohe has four kids in their bubble, and 73-year-old Tricia is in a… Read more Video, Audio

5:48 PM.As of next Tuesday, funerals and tangihanga will be able to go ahead, albeit with a strict ten person limit, and enforced social distancing.

It has prompted a sigh of relief from funeral directors… Read more Audio

5:43 PM.The government's wage subsidy scheme has been paid to nearly 1000 companies who shouldn't have received it.

More than $10 billion has been paid out to businesses - the bill has now reached more than… Read more Audio

5:36 PM.Bubble breakers have been out in force over the past 24 hours with police catching 423 people breaching the Covid-19 lockdown rules.

Since New Zealand went into alert level almost 4,500 people have… Read more Audio

5:34 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report Audio

5:27 PM.The mayor of Queenstown Lakes has described plans to cut hundreds of tourism jobs as a horror story.

One of the country's largest tourist operators, Ngāi Tahu Tourism, has announced plans to close… Read more Audio

5:17 PM.Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has apologised to the family of a woman who's died of Covid-19 for describing her as being in a stable condition just days earlier.

Jocelyn Finlayson was… Read more Audio

5:07 PM.On Thursday the government announced a $50 million bailout package for the media industry which has suffered under a loss of advertising amid the Covid-19 lockdown.

The package includes scrapping… Read more Audio