An internal memo dating back to Nov. 12, 2021, from the New Zealand Ministry of Health advised officials that there was no longer any justification to continue the country’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ).
The document, written by then-Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay to the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the risk of international arrivals transmitting COVID-19 was “no longer higher than the domestic transmission risk.”
McElnay asked Bloomfield if he agreed with the statement, which would mean that “Managed Isolation for border returnees would no longer be justified on public health grounds as the ‘default’ for people travelling to New Zealand.”
The Epoch Times has not seen the memo.
Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson defended the government’s decision for the quarantine system to remain until the end of February.
He said MIQ would have ended in January if not for the Omicron wave in late-January, which had led to the extension of the MIQ program to allow for higher vaccination rates.
“Had we moved quicker we would have had a significantly harder job bringing MIQ back,” he told Newstalk ZB.
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that from his knowledge, the memo was not final and was still being circulated for peer review.
However, Hipkins noted that two days later, the World Health Organisation had declared Omicron a variant of concern, prompting the government to further monitor the need for MIQ.
“The suggestion that we did nothing for the serval months between when this memo was first written and when the border finally reopened isn’t actually correct. Things changed during that time,” he said.
Hipkins added he didn’t know why the memo wasn’t released publicly and didn’t think there was a “great conspiracy” to keep the information private.
ACT New Zealand Party Leader David Seymour called on the prime minister to apologise to all the citizens who had been stranded overseas due to MIQ.
“The government owes all those who were stuck in limbo overseas an apology. They were the victims of a costly and cruel policy that wasn’t even doing any good.”
RNZ said the ministry initially refused to make the document public, requested under the Official Information Act, until the Ombudsman stepped in and forced their hand.