Two New Zealanders from India join the latest list
Venkat Raman (with RNZ Report)
Auckland, June 20, 2020
The number of Covid-19 cases is slowly rising with two more persons reported positive.
A couple who returned from India (Delhi) on an Air India special flight on June 5, 2020 was tested at Grand Millennium Hotel where they were accommodated.
Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that an infant who travelled with the couple could not be tested because of age.
The couple showed no symptoms of the virus on arrival but were found positive on Day 12, he said.
“This morning, the couple and their child were transferred from the Grand Millennium Hotel, to the Jet Park quarantine hotel. People at the Grand Millennium Hotel are being tested, as well as people who were on the same flight,” Dr Bloomfield said.
The minimum 14-day isolation period of the couple starts from today.
Impact of global increase
Although there is no second wave in New Zealand – the number of Covid-19 cases will continue to rise because the number of New Zealanders (citizens and permanent residents) retuning home is also on the rise. As Dr Bloomfield said, the population of affected cases is also increasing.
As of yesterday (June 19), there were 8.55 million cases worldwide with the overnight increase of 125,301 in the USA, 17833 in Mexico and 13,827 in India, the three highest recorded.
As at the end of May 2019, the New Zealand government had spent $81 million in Managed Isolation and Quarantine facilities extended to returning New Zealanders, an average of $4100 per person.
Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods who is now in additional charge as Minister for Managed Isolation and Quarantine told the media yesterday that time would soon be at hand to charge users of these facilities.
“But it is complicated since New Zealanders have the right to return home,” she said.
New Zealand by numbers
There are now five cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand recorded this week.
The total number of cases recorded since February 28, 2020 now stands at 1507, of who, 1482 have recovered. There have been 22 Covid-19 related deaths in the country.
Two women, who arrived in New Zealand from the UK were allowed to travel to Wellington to visit their deceased parent. They caused a huge political storm with the National Party, the main opposition, claiming that the women had breached the social distancing norms.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Dr Bloomfield received considerable public ire for lack of proper testing procedures and worse, laxed system of letting people out on compassionate grounds.
Former Police Commissioner Mike Bush, who is currently in the PMO advising the Prime Minister on Covid-19 said that six persons who were let out on compassionate grounds were ‘absconding.’
This caused further concern.
National Party’s role
While National Party continues to pound the government, it is time politicians refrained from interfering in the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system.
Most National MPs and participants in talkback shows had earlier criticised the government as ‘heartless’ when stringent rules were applied for people in such facilities to attend their dying relatives or funerals. The High Court of Auckland allowed a petitioner to attend a funeral, setting aside the government order.
On Tuesday (June 16, 2020), it was revealed that two women who had arrived from the UK had tested positive after they were released from isolation on compassionate grounds.
Dr Bloomfield reiterated that there should be no stigma attached for people who have had the Virus. “World leaders and doctors have caught Covid-19 and could affect anyone’s parents, grandparents, children or siblings. Please be compassionate and kind,” he said.
Speaking about the case of one man who apparently was taken from one facility to the airport for transfer but instead was taken back to another managed isolation facility, Dr Bloomfield said, “As long as the procedures are appropriate, it’s perfectly safe … everyone is being tested and no one is leaving the facility.”
