Watertight border will reduce risk

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will be no room for error at the border as she warned returning Kiwis the Government is moving closer to quarantining new arrivals.

On Monday, she confirmed the Government was planning mandatory quarantine at the border in the coming weeks, before a move to level three.

‘‘I have already flagged that we are looking, again, to leave no room for error at the border.

‘‘So I warn New Zealanders that you can expect that at our borders we will be expecting more of you,’’ she said yesterday.

Ardern’s public assurances followed concerns voiced by Parliament’s epidemic response committee after a submission from epidemiologist David Skegg about the need for more intensive quarantine arrangements.

Currently, according to the Government, more than 1000 people are quarantined in hotels, but people returning from overseas are still able to avoid going into mandatory quarantine if they prove they have a plan to selfisolate.

MPs were concerned it was not a robust way to manage the threat of Covid-19 re-entering the country if it was eliminated.

Director-general of health Dr Ashley

Dr Ashley Bloomfield director-general of health

Bloomfield said quarantining was under active consideration and agreed with Skegg.

‘‘We need to be very confident we are not letting new cases into the country at level 3, so we are providing advice to the Cabinet around that,’’ Bloomfield said.

Committee chairman and Opposition leader Simon Bridges said Bloomfield conceded during the meeting that someone could land in New Zealand and be at the supermarket later that day.

This spurred Bridges to launch a petition to require all people arriving in New Zealand to undergo at least 14 days of mandatory quarantine.

Feedback from the public had been overwhelmingly in favour of this, he said.

‘‘A large number of diagnosed Covid19 cases in New Zealand have come in from overseas. For the lockdown to have been worthwhile we need to ensure those coming into New Zealand are quarantining properly.’’

Experts and clinicians had been calling for the move for weeks, Bridges said.

Ardern confirmed the Cabinet had preliminary discussions about expectations and these had been outlined to officials, with action expected soon.

The border was an ongoing point of risk, she said.

‘‘I want a watertight system at our border and I think we can do better on that.’’

‘‘We need to be very confident we are not letting new cases into the country at level 3.’’