October 27, 2020
Border surge tests quarantine capacity
A Māori academic who is tracking the coronavirus pandemic says New Zealand is starting to lose control of its border because it is letting too many people into managed isolation and quarantine.
Rawiri Taonui from Auckland University of Technology says the cluster of cases in Christchurch among Russian and Ukrainian fishing crew shows the risks involved in trying to keep sectors of the economy open.
He says since June there have been half a dozen leaks into the community, all when there have been more than 20 positive cases in quarantine.
"As we sit here talking today we have over 70 positive cases in MIQ and it is far too many people to manage too many points contact. Two days ago New Zealand let in over 600 people in one day and that is far too many people to manage and I would describe the border as something akin to chaos," Dr Taonui says.
He says the world is on track to have 75 to 80 million reported cases of COVID 19 by the end of the year – and the real number could be more than 20 times that, making it the biggest pandemic in human history.
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