March 25, 2020
Checkpoints aim to instil fear of virus
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Former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira says he wants to scare people with his Covid-19 checkpoints.
The first so-called medical checkpoint has been set up at the bottom of the Waiomio Hill after negotiations with the police about the safest place to site it.
He says it includes medically-trained people and so far has been about giving out information and trying to discourage tourists from moving freely around the far north.
He also wants to discourage whānau from the cities coming home without evidence they don’t have the Coronavirus.
"I’m doing my best to keep everyone feeling afraid. I don't want people feeling this is a joke, this is an exercise, that this is just a bad case of the flu, because it's not. (Covid-19) is a killer. We've all got to do our best to make sure our people understand how serious that is," he says.
Mr Harawira says he is happy to stand down the roadblocks when the government steps up, but at the moment that’s not happening.
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