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National has criticized the Labor government’s pandemic response at the border after 10 people on the same flight who had Covid-19 entered New Zealand.
Dr. Shane Reti. Source: Getty
National is calling for Covid-19 testing prior to departure along with two weeks of quarantine after 10 of the 12 positive Covid-19 cases announced yesterday arrived in New Zealand on a single flight from India.
The 10 people had arrived in the country on an Air India flight on September 26 and tested positive on day three while in New Zealand.
It comes after 17 new cases of Covid-19 were discovered on a flight that arrived in Auckland from India on August 23.
In a statement, National’s Health spokesperson Dr. Shane Reti said that at least one private flight arrived in Auckland from the same country between the two flights, of which several hundred on board had received pre-departure testing and they were subsequently licensed from Covid-19.
It has announced that it would require people entering the country to be tested for Covid-19 three days before departure, as well as to go into quarantine, he said. The test results would be provided to the airline staff before boarding the plane.
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Dr. Caroline McElnay says that each step of the process is designed to closely manage cases. Source: 1 NEWS
“The pre-departure tests effectively push our border outward and strengthen our protection against the coronavirus,” Reti said.
“Labor cannot let the bloody mentality stand in the way of strengthening our border. The job failures at the border have already sparked another wave of Covid-19, the consequences of which were New Zealanders’ jobs, businesses and livelihoods. “
The Director of Public Health, Dr. Caroline McElnay, said yesterday in a media confrontation that the Ministry of Health will continue to “look at all the advice” on how to handle Covid-19 at the border, including the possibility of enforcing tests prior to the exit.
“There are a variety of different pieces of advice that we are gathering that would include looking at whether pre-departure testing would be a useful addition to what we currently have.
National’s announcement comes amid a push from prominent University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, who today calls for those traveling to New Zealand from countries with large Covid-19 outbreaks to quarantine a week earlier. of your flight.
Anyone with a positive pre-departure test would have to delay their flight for a month to ensure they have been cleared of the virus, he said.
Reti said reducing the need for closures “couldn’t be more crucial,” adding that the first shutdown saw 215,000 Kiwis receive unemployment benefits, with 1.6 million jobs saved by wage subsidies.
“National will protect New Zealanders from Covid-19 and allow our economy to thrive with a comprehensive border plan that includes pre-departure testing.”
In August, party leader Judith Collins asked New Zealanders returning from abroad to test negative for the coronavirus before entering the country. She also called for the mandatory use of contact tracing technologies for those arriving or working at the border.
