Heath Ministry advised in November MIQ should go

Newshub reports:

An internal memo from the Ministry of Health has revealed there was no longer “any” health justification for MIQ way back in November 2021. 

It means stranded Kiwis could have come home for Christmas instead of applying for a spot in state-run managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). 

Why has this only come out now? The short answer is the Ministry of Health didn’t want this advice out in public. They tried to keep it secret, refusing to release it until their hand was forced by the Ombudsman. 

So the Government kept Kiwi families from reuniting for Christmas, even after they had been told there was no health justification for carrying on with MIQ.

The memo expressly says that, way back in November, the risk posed by international arrivals transmitting COVID-19 was no longer higher than the risk of domestic transmission. 

The extra damning thing is that, looking at the full context of the Delta outbreak at the time, there were vaccine requirements for international arrivals and we had 80 percent of the population double vaccinated. 

There was ongoing transmission in Auckland and health officials agreed that right then MIQ was no longer justified. 

So cruel.