Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed today a compulsory two-week quarantine for people entering the country as New Zealand's latest response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Ardern announced today that the Government's approach to Kiwis returning from overseas will change from New Zealanders being allowed to head home to them being put into quarantine facilities for two weeks.
"That’s why from midnight tonight every New Zealander boarding a flight to return home will be required to undergo quarantine or managed isolation in an approved facility for a minimum of 14 days," Ms Ardern said.
"I am also signalling that the requirement for 14 days of quarantine or managed self-isolation in a government-approved facility, will be a prerequisite for anyone entering the country in order to keep the virus out."
New arrivals will be housed in hotels paid for by the Government. (Source: Other)
The announcement comes after Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ this morning travellers would be met at the airport and taken straight to a quarantine facility with military or police possibly involved in the transport.
Mr Peters said the police and military could also be used to give other New Zealanders confidence in the system.
"We're going to put in the resources so we get the New Zealand people confidence that the people that are their relations have a right to come home, but nevertheless will not endanger New Zealand people back here," he said.
Ms Ardern said this afternoon the quarantining of returning New Zealanders will be a mammoth undertaking.
"For context nearly 40,000 New Zealanders have returned home since the 20th of March, when we closed the border to foreign nationals. That is more than the all of the hotel rooms across the country that we could have properly housed people in," she said.
"There has always been urgency around this matter, but simply put, we could not have done it from the beginning, but we are doing it now.
"However we are now seeing major reductions in New Zealanders returning. Since the beginning of Level 4 around 6500 have returned, reducing to only 40 yesterday.
"A network of up to 18 hotels will be used to implement this approach, of which one to two will be specifically set aside for those under strict quarantine conditions."
Ms Ardern added a decision on if New Zealand will be ready to return to Level 3 won't be made until April 20.
SHARE ME