Coronavirus: Isolated travellers let out to attend large funeral in Christchurch
Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Quarantined arrivals from overseas attended a big funeral in Christchurch this week, as concerns grow that lax border controls are boosting New Zealand's Covid-19 risk.
The Government has been under pressure since two Covid-19 diagnoses this week ended the country's virus-free status. Health officials are now urgently tracking down 320 people who have been in close contact with the infected women, who drove to Wellington after six days of hotel isolation to attend a funeral.
The Ministry of Health is managing about 3400 arrivals and this week expanded quarantine to Christchurch with 93 people under isolation in the Commodore Airport Hotel.
Steve Parkyn, chief executive of funeral directors Lamb and Hayward, said 'nine or 10' of those people were let out of quarantine early to attend one of the company's funerals on Tuesday.
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Parkyn said after being contacted by health authorities he refused to allow the isolated travellers from the Commodore Hotel to attend the service, but they joined about 150 other mourners at the burial, accompanied by a health official.
'We asked for information, and whether the people had been tested, but they couldn't tell us anything.
'It was bizarre. We've been through lockdown where people couldn't get exemptions to attend funerals or see dying relatives,' he said.
'The rules are meant to be there to protect everyone, and there's potentially elderly and compromised people at funerals.'
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday appointed assistant chief of defence Air Commodore Darryn Webb to review and oversee border management.
'We need the rigour, we need the confidence, and we need the discipline that the military can provide,' Ardern said.
Webb would be able to use the military to make sure the border was being properly handled, she said.
'It is totally unacceptable that procedures we were advised were in place were not. Our job is to fix that.
'There is no room for error.'
Opposition leader Todd Muller has called for Ardern to sack Health Minister David Clark, saying it was lax quarantine measures that allowed Covid-19 back into the country.
National party health spokesman Michael Woodhouse said in Parliament on Wednesday that despite Government claims the women had no contact on the way, they were helped by 'good Samaritans' after getting lost leaving Auckland and rewarded them with 'a kiss and a cuddle'.
The two infected women were not Covid-19 tested during their six-day quarantine. Hotels have reportedly been advising quarantined guests that the required tests, three days and 12 days into quarantine, are voluntary.
The past week has seen 90 people arriving from overseas granted exemptions from managed isolation, on compassionate, medical or other grounds.
Diplomats and their families and air crew members are automatically exempt from having to isolate.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier said on Wednesday he was 'livid' that his staff, staying in an Auckland hotel, came into close contact with people in quarantine.
Without warning, a lot of people landed from overseas, were placed in quarantine in the hotel and were mingling, he said. Boshier said he would inspect the quarantine facilities.
About 250 people a day are flying into New Zealand, mostly into Auckland. Most of the several thousand overseas arrivals are quarantined in Auckland hotels, with the crew of the movie Avatar quarantined in Wellington.