Covid-19: people with dying relatives prioritized in the new emergency MIQ criteria

The criteria for individuals making emergency requests for a managed isolation facility have been expanded to a new tier system, allowing a better opportunity for those with dying family members to enter.

While New Zealand citizens with serious health problems will continue to have priority in “category one”, the new system introduces “category two”, which allows people to apply for an emergency allowance based on a series of new criteria.

Citizens or residents visiting a close relative who is dying, those who cannot legally remain in their current location, persons who are needed for a time-critical health or public service or national security interest, and care Critic of a dependent person in New Zealand is included in the new category.

The Deputy Executive Director for Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Megan Main, said that the emergency allocation process is a last resort option and that the threshold is extremely high.

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“To be eligible for an emergency assignment, travel must be time-critical, the applicant must have the legal right to enter New Zealand and must be willing to travel within seven days to make your request “.

Main said he is confident that about 150 rooms can be made available every fortnight for those who need to travel urgently.

Since November 3, when the Managed Isolation Assignment System (MIAS) was introduced, between five and eight rooms at MIQ facilities have not been used per day as a result of people having a flight but not having a coupon or They have reserved several coupons.

Between seven and eight rooms are left unused each day after being assigned to a person who had a flight and a coupon but did not arrive in New Zealand.

Main said decisions about who to let in are not easy to make as there must be a balance between individual applications and the safety of New Zealanders.

Despite the new criteria, there is no guarantee that people who fit them will receive an emergency allowance, as it depends on the number of rooms available at the time, he said.

Places at MIQ facilities have been hard to come by, with reservations through December 20, just two days after the new reservation system was announced.

The complete criteria

Category one

• Citizens or residents of New Zealand where there is a serious risk to the health of the applicant or their dependents, requiring an urgent trip to New Zealand; OR
• When urgent travel is required to ensure that a child receives adequate care and protection.

Category two

• Citizens or residents of New Zealand who must provide critical care to a dependent person in New Zealand and need to travel urgently to do so; OR
• A person whose entry to New Zealand is time-critical for the purpose of providing a critical health or public service, such as the provision of specialized health services necessary to prevent serious illness, injury or death; o the maintenance of essential infrastructure the failure of which would cause significant damage or disruption to large numbers of New Zealanders; OR
• Citizens or residents of New Zealand, who cannot legally remain in their current location and have no choice but to return to New Zealand; OR
• New Zealanders and non-New Zealanders, when urgent travel to New Zealand is required for reasons of national security, national interest or law enforcement; OR
• New Zealand citizens or residents entering New Zealand to visit a close family member who is dying, where it is unlikely that it will be possible to travel on time if the person books through the Managed Seclusion Allowance System.