The National Party has called the Government’s lack of data on managed isolation a national disgrace.
It comes as health authorities faced questions as to why it’s taken a week to find out how many people left quarantine early without a test for Covid-19. The Herald now reports 51 of the 55 released early didn’t have a test.
Opposition leader Todd Muller questioned Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about the matter in Parliament yesterday and asked whether she thinks “the country can take her seriously” after the border bungles.
Ms Ardern retaliated by saying the Opposition “repeatedly urged us to rush toward Alert Level 1 and open the border".
The Government is now ramping up testing for Covid-19 , with a focus on airline crew and those who work at the border.
The flurry of new cases at the border has also prompted long queues at community testing stations.
And bringing in the military to monitor isolation facilities is making a difference, according to at least one quarantined passenger.
A man in his final week of mandatory isolation at the Novotel Ellerslie has told Stuff he’s noticed significant improvements since military personnel took charge.
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Woods calls MP's bluff
The Government has also found itself in a stand-off with a National MP about one particularly outrageous story out of managed isolation.
National MP Michael Woodhouse last week claimed a homeless man had bluffed his way into a 14-day stay at an Auckland hotel being used for isolating new arrivals.
Yesterday, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the story couldn’t be verified and “may well be an urban myth” .
Mr Woodhouse was undeterred and stood by his comments, saying his source was “highly reliable” .
However, the ball is back in his court following a letter from Housing Minister Megan Woods last night.
She’s calling on Mr Woodhouse to shed further light on the alleged breach of the hotel’s facilities.
Ms Woods says reviews of CCTV footage and interviews with staff have turned up nothing. She’s now asking Mr Woodhouse for more information to back up his claims.
Covid cases accelerate
The importance of watertight border controls has been reinforced by an acceleration of new Covid-19 cases around the world.
More than nine million people have been infected since the outbreak began with a million of those registered in just one week.
Alarming surges in cases in the US have raised fears the outbreak is spiralling out of control there, while Brazil has raced past the one million case mark.
There’s renewed concern across the Tasman, too, with Victoria recording double-digit growth in new cases for the seventh day in a row. Premier Daniel Andrews says there’s evidence of “significant community transmission” .
Police target gang’s top tier
Police are not ruling out further arrests following a major raid on the Bay of Plenty-based Mongols MC gang yesterday.
All the gang’s senior leaders and "the majority of patched members" have been arrested and now face more than 200 charges between them.
Among the items seized during the raid on the gang were drugs, military-style firearms, Molotov cocktails and a homemade bomb.
Marae pleads for clean air
One of the country's oldest marae claim they're being affected by toxic industrial activity in Mount Maunganui.
Whareroa Marae has stood for more than 150 years and is now struggling with health concerns as industry springs up around the 80-strong settlement.
Multiple examples of excess dust levels have been recorded in the area since November.
Two companies near the marae say they have strict monitoring and systems in place to minimise odour and health effects, however a local health provider says poor air quality and health impacts in the area are concerning.
Carpark rules criticised
Archaic car park rules are stopping people building new homes in some areas.
The problem is particularly prominent in Wellington where the local council requires each residential house to have at least one carpark. Similar rules apply in Christchurch and Auckland outside the central city.
One Wellington couple has been quoted $200,000 to add a carpark to their proposed new build in the capital’s hills.
The carpark requirement is being labelled as regressive with a hark back to a time when everything was about cars.
Other news of note this morning:
Men's tennis world number one Novak Djokovic is the latest player to test positive for Covid-19 after competing at a tournament he organised.
New Zealand's largest general insurer IAG is looking to close multiple stores across the country, saying the move reflects growing customer expectations for digital services.
A South Auckland social worker says the life of a disabled boy is being put at risk because his family is forced to live in a cold garage due to a lack of appropriate housing.
The White House is defending President Donald Trump's use of "Kung flu" when referring to Covid-19.
People are being urged to cook raw mussels thoroughly after an increase in cases of food poisoning associated with commercially grown mussels from the Coromandel area.
And Apple is trying to do its part for the battle against Covid-19, with the latest update for its Apple Watch operating system able to monitor people as they wash their hands.
And finally...
Say hello to Kai, New Zealand's first robot supermarket worker.
Kai is a fully automated store-scanning machine built to roam the store and find empty shelves at Rototuna Countdown.
As well as alerting staff to those empty shelves, Kai is also designed to identify hazards on the ground, including spillages, knocked over products – and, as it transpires, pesky reporters .
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