Jacinda Ardern calls in army after New Zealand quarantine blunder

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called in the military to enforce border controls after two women who arrived from the UK were allowed to leave quarantine early and subsequently tested positive for coronavirus.

“This case represents an unacceptable failure of the system. It should never have happened and it cannot be repeated,” Ardern said on Wednesday in Wellington.

She appointed the Assistant Chief of Defence, Air Commodore Digby Webb, to oversee all quarantine and managed isolation facilities, including the processes around the exit of those who have been in them.


The move follows news that two sisters — New Zealand citizens who returned from the UK to visit a dying parent — were allowed to leave quarantine early without being tested for Covid-19 and were later found to be infected with the virus.

The two new cases were the first in more than three weeks and brought an end to New Zealand's brief period of being virus-free, which came with the recovery of the last of its previous patients on June 8.