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The government will not prevent people from traveling to New Zealand from India, despite two recent flights that brought 28 cases of Covid-19 to the country’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities.
The Health Ministry confirmed Thursday that two more passengers traveling from India tested positive on the 12th of their stay in administered isolation. They were a man in his 30s and a woman in his 50s.
They arrived in Christchurch on a flight from India, which had a stopover in Fiji, on 27 August. Six other people on the flight also tested positive for controlled isolation.
Another 20 people on another flight from India that arrived in Auckland on August 23 also tested positive. It is not known in which isolation center these people are housed.
READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: 26 cases of Covid-19 linked to two flights
* Coronavirus: New Case of Covid-19 at Christchurch Managed Isolation Facility
* Five new Christchurch Covid cases tested negative when they boarded a plane to New Zealand
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Health Minister Chris Hipkins says it would be wrong for the government to prevent kiwis from India from returning to New Zealand.
Health Minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealanders should be able to go home.
He noted that the only people entering New Zealand currently were residents or returning citizens, due to the border closure that had been in place since March.
“We will do everything we can to help them return home while keeping other New Zealanders safe.
Ajit Solanki / AP
A healthcare worker in India takes a nasal swab. India now has 4.2 million cases of the virus, which has caused more than 70,000 deaths.
On Monday, India overtook Brazil to become the country with the second highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 4.2 million. The only country with more cases was the United States.
India has had more than 70,000 deaths from Covid-19.
Hipkins said it would be wrong for the government to prevent people from returning to New Zealand based on where they were in the world.
The two recent flights from India arrived in New Zealand after stopovers in Fiji.
A passenger on the Aug. 27 flight said RNZ all passengers had to test negative before boarding.
The passenger, Rohit Sharma, told RNZ that it was possible that a passenger had contracted the virus during the stopover in Fiji, where the passengers changed planes and were able to use the airport bathroom.
It’s unclear whether passengers on the Aug. 23 flight also had to be screened before boarding.
Of the 28 cases on the two flights, all were detected while passengers were undergoing the mandatory two-week isolation period at an MIQ facility.
10 cases at the Christchurch MIQ facility
The two new cases on Thursday brought the number of people with Covid-19 in Christchurch to 10.
All those cases were at the MIQ facilities.
Mark Baker / AP
Medical staff prepare to test for Covid-19 at a community-based testing center in Christchurch on Aug. 13 (File photo)
Eight of the city’s cases were passengers who arrived on the Aug. 27 flight from India.
One of the passengers was taken to Christchurch Hospital on August 31, but has since been transferred back to an MIQ facility.
A woman in her 30s tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving from the Philippines via Hong Kong on August 29. She tested positive on her third day of being in New Zealand and was in isolation at the Distinction Hotel in central Christchurch.
It was the first positive case at the hotel since joining the MIQ program last month.
The other active case in the city was that of a woman in her 20s, who tested positive for Covid-19 while in administered isolation at the Sudima Hotel in Christchurch.
The woman, who had traveled from Turkey and had been to London and Hong Kong prior to that, arrived in New Zealand on August 22.
She was transferred to a separate and secure quarantine area inside the Sudima Hotel after testing positive.
