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.
Covid 19 coronavirus: What you need to know about Saturday's big developments
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• 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.
• Labour's leadership insists it still plans to intervene in the commercial property market to force rent negotiations due to Covid-19 disruption, but warned tenants and landlords not to wait for it.
Around the world
• 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.
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
The last word
• With the lockdown over, Simon Wilson winds up his pandemic diary with 15 things we learned during it.