Covid 19 coronavirus: Government says Kiwis should be able to return home, regardless of risk level

The government has no plans to close travel routes from Covid hotspots, such as India, because Kiwis have the right to return home regardless of the Covid risk they pose.

But Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins is looking for other ways to help keep communities Covid-free, including pre-departure testing, exercise areas at MIQ facilities, and whether travelers can be redirected back to New Zealand to keep flight numbers low. who are more likely to be infected by Covid.

His comments follow a call from public health experts at the University of Otago to strengthen layers of defense to keep New Zealand communities free of Covid, including fewer arrivals from the UK, the US. The US and India, countries where Covid is still rampant.

They also suggested placing travelers from high-risk countries in MIQ facilities away from urban centers, vaccinating them upon arrival, eliminating shared MIQ areas used for smoking or exercise, and requiring daily PCR-based saliva tests for the MIQ workers.

Today there were two new cases at MIQ – both arrived on Emirates flights from India in recent days and tested positive on day 1 or day zero.

This follows the pattern of the last few weeks of most MIQ Covid cases originating from India on an Emirates flight; On March 27, for example, there were 10 people who later tested positive.

“This is a very comprehensive flight and it obviously comes from a country where Covid-19 is widespread,” Hipkins said.

But he said there was no plan to prevent the kiwis from returning home from the Covid hot spots.

“We have always been clear, and the position is not going to change on this, that New Zealand citizens and residents should be able to return home.”

That particular flight brought medical supplies to New Zealand, but he said it might be possible to reduce the number of passengers.

“I haven’t had full advice on this, but we could potentially relocate those passengers on different flights to come a different route.”

He was also looking forward to more advice on verifying the integrity of pre-departure tests, following reports that fake certificates can be purchased in India.

He said the government was also analyzing whether it was necessary to close any MIQ facilities (contracts will be renewed at the end of April).

“Are there things in some of those facilities that make them less suitable? One of those things is if there is no nearby area where people can go out and we have to take them a reasonable distance by bus.”

Yesterday, MIQ chief Brigadier General Jim Bliss announced changes following a series of mistakes that caused a Covid-infected returnee to share a bus ride to an exercise area with others who later extended their MIQ stays.

The person who tested positive had had a headache in previous days and should not have been allowed to get on the bus, and those on the bus did not sit in the same seats on the return leg.

The people on the bus weren’t wearing masks either and had come from different countries, meaning the passenger cohorts were mixing.

The new rules include the use of buses with two doors, the front for the driver and the rear for the returnees, and providing a verbal briefing at the beginning of each trip on wearing masks at all times and sitting in the same seat towards and from the airport. exercise area.