25 March 2021
File No. DOIA 2021-1563
K Roe
[FYI request #14677 email] Dear K Roe
Thank you for your email of 14 February 2021, transferred to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment (the Ministry) from the office of Hon Andrew Little, Minister of Health and requesting the
following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
How many people who entered into border quarantine... Have been released from that
quarantine back to society at the end of the quarantine time?
There will then be some number who haven't / were not. So we wonder of them: What
happened?
Some of them will have been required to stay in quarantine longer because they returned a
positive test. Subtract them from the number who were not released.
How many now remain?
The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Isolation and Quarantine) Order 2020 legally requires people
arriving into New Zealand to enter into isolation or quarantine and sets out requirements which need to
be satisfied before an individual is able to leave isolation or quarantine. The purpose of this order is to
prevent, and limit the risk of, the outbreak or spread of COVID-19.
In almost all cases a negative COVID-19 test and confirmation from a Medical Officer of Health or a
Health Protection Officer that they are medically considered at low risk of having or transmitting COVID-
19 are needed before they can leave the facility. To meet the low risk indicators people are required to:
• complete 14 days in isolation,
• undergo medical examination and testing for COVID-19, unless a medical officer of health or
health protection officer has determined that they have physical or other reasons that make it
inappropriate for them to undergo medical examination and testing, and
• undergo other medical tests or information to indicate if you are at a low risk of having or
transmitting COVID-19.
In cases where a person does not have their final day 12 test, they are required, under the COVID-19
Public Health Response (Isolation and Quarantine) Order 2020, to stay in isolation or quarantine until
they meet the low risk indicators, up to a maximum of 28 days.
The longest someone has stayed in managed quarantine is just over 40 days, this was due to the reset
requirement after someone in a bubble tests positive to COVID-19.
The Ministry regularly updates and publishes the number of people currently in MIQ facilities and the
total number of people who have been through MIQ facilities. This information is available at
www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-development/covid-19-data-
resources/managed-isolation-and-quarantine-data/ With regard to your request for the number of returnees who have not re-entered the general
population following their stay in an MIQ facility, I can advise that three returnees have passed away
while in an MIQ facility, two returnees passed away in hospital after going there directly from an MIQ
facility, and two returnees have been remanded in custody directly from an MIQ facility.
Please note that none of the five deaths were COVID-19 related.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of our response to your
request. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone: 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Group Captain Peter Johnson
General Manager, Regional Operations Delivery
Managed Isolation and Quarantine
