New Zealand PM orders military to oversee quarantine facilities after new COVID cases

As two new cases of COVID-19 were detected in New Zealand for the first time in 24 days, Prime Minister Jacinda Arden reportedly said that defence force will now strengthen border requirements and oversee the quarantine facilities. While calling the incident to allow two people with coronavirus to move around the country ‘unacceptable failure’ by health officials, Arden reportedly appointed the Assistant Chief of Defence, Air Commodore Digby Webb to manage isolation facilities. 

Arden’s appointment of the top military leader comes after the country lost its ‘COVID-free status’. On June 16, the country reported that two patients who returned from the UK had been given permission to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds. However, the women in their 30s the other in her 40s were tested positive of the deadly virus. 

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While speaking at a news conference in parliament, the New Zealand PM said that the Assistant Chief of Defence will be managing the processes of existing people from the quarantine facilities. Arden also reportedly said that Webb can seek access to military logistics, its operational expertise and personnel for running of the quarantine facilities. Furthermore, she added that an audit would be done to make sure that all processes in place are followed and any changes needed can be made to further strengthen the border facilities. 

‘Unacceptable failure of the system’ 

It was only last week that the country lifted all social and economic restrictions barring the border control and had declared that the nation had zero active coronavirus cases. However, as per reports, the two women who had been isolated in Auckland’s Novotel Ellerslie hotel until June 13 had applied for compassionate exemption after a parent died due to the virus in the UK. 

READ: New Zealand Reports Two New Cases Week After Declaring It Eliminated Coronavirus

The two were given the approval to travel cross-country in a private vehicle to Wellington. Further, reports stated, one of the patients had mild symptoms, while the other was asymptomatic as they both tested positive in the Wellington test centre and have been quarantined.  

In the light of the new COVID-19 cases, Arden said that she cannot allow the gains that the country made to be squared by processes that are not followed. She added that the infected person should never have been allowed to leave. The NZ PM also added that the country requires not one but two tests to be undertaken at the quarantine facilities, however, it did not and there are no excuses. “This represents an unacceptable failure of the system,” she added. 

(Image: AP) 

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