12 Jul 2020

Isolation facility established for NZers deported from Australia

7:27 pm on 12 July 2020

A managed isolation facility has been set up for New Zealanders being deported from Australia.

Airplane in the sky at sunset

Photo: 123RF

A government statement said the facility will remain in use for as long as necessary to manage deportees as they complete their 14 days in managed isolation.

It said extra security arrangements will be put in place where appropriate, with risk assessments to be carried out by police and the Department of Corrections.

Citing the privacy of the deportees, the statement said further details of their location would not be provided.

Under alert level 1, everyone who arrives in New Zealand must stay in managed isolation or quarantine for a least 14 days.

They are not allowed to leave unless granted an exemption from health officials, however four people have escaped, the latest a person in their 60s who broke a window and escaped from an Auckland hotel.

There are 25 active cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand. The latest case is a woman in her 20s who arrived in New Zealand on 4 July from Rome, via Doha and Sydney. She was a close contact of an earlier case and returned a positive result when tested on day six of isolation.

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