Checkpoint for Friday 1 May 2020

5:07 PM.A nurse at Waitematā DHB where three staff have contracted Covid-19 says "beggars belief" that personal protective equipment use failed.

But she says her DHB is ill-prepared and has shown… Read more Audio

5:10 PM.Waitematā DHB concedes it has had complaints about ill-fitting masks that are supposed to protect staff from Covid-19.

The DHB's launched an investigation into the use of PPE (personal protective… Read more Video, Audio

5:18 PM.The government is to give small businesses interest free loans to help them with the economic turmoil post-lockdown.

The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme will provide assistance of up to a… Read more Audio

5:23 PM.The West Coast's mayors are calling on the government to relax the lockdown rules in their region to save jobs and businesses.

There are no active cases of Covid-19 in the West Coast DHB area and… Read more Audio

5:26 PM.A massive bang, and when the smoke cleared - there was a body.

A man has been charged with the murder of an Auckland woman on Friday morning, in the wake of an explosion that woke a suburb.

Mt… Read more Audio

5:31 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Video, Audio

5:35 PM.If New Zealanders vote to legalise cannabis, there will be a cap on how much is grown every year, set by an authority that will also divide the quota between licenced growers. 

The government has… Read more Video, Audio

5:50 PM.Despite several days of queues at takeaway stores across the country, the next few weeks will reveal how many food businesses will actually be able to survive the impacts of Covid-19.

Indira Stewart… Read more Video, Audio

6:06 PM.The final blueprint for New Zealand's legal cannabis market has been released - giving the public all the information to decide how they will vote in the planned referendum.

The new details include a… Read more Audio

6:20 PM.Māori communities in isolated areas are turning up in droves to be tested for Covid-19.

New mobile testing units are being deployed to rural areas and to whānau homes, and clinics are being set up at… Read more Audio

6:20 PM.A veteran New Zealand retailer is on a rent strike in what she describes as a battle to survive after losing an estimated $1 million in turnover in the last six weeks due to Covid-19.

Homeware store… Read more Video, Audio

6:24 PM.Grieving communities are feeling the strain over having to ensure funerals and tangi are restricted to 10 people only.

More than 100 people turned up to a tangi near Christchurch this week, despite… Read more Audio