16 Feb 2021

Covid-19: MIQ boss details upgrade of Pullman Hotel

From Checkpoint, 5:15 pm on 16 February 2021

The isolation hotel at the centre of a Covid-19 community outbreak has re-opened for business, although all the recommended upgrades are yet to be completed.

Three people who stayed at the Pullman later tested positive for the more contagious South Africa variant of Covid-19 after they'd been released.

As a result, the government put a freeze on returnees going to the Auckland hotel and emptied out the last of its guests on Waitangi Day so it could be deep cleaned and the causes identified.

Authorities still do not know how it spread, though it's believed there were three separate events.

Following the upgrade at the hotel, corridor ventilation will run 24 hours a day instead of just two hours.

The changes will be rolled out to all other MIQs too. But returnees are already back in the Pullman before all the upgrades are complete.

The official overseeing MIQ, Brigadier Jim Bliss, explains why guests are being allowed into the hotel again.