28 Sep 2021

Covid-19 updates: Thousands expected to try for latest MIQ spots

5:22 pm on 28 September 2021

About now thousands of Kiwis are jamming into the virtual MIQ lobby for the next lottery of vouchers.

Three thousand eight hundred rooms in managed islolation for October, November and December are being released at 6pm.

It's the second room allocation since the government introduced the new system where people are randomly placed in a queue - giving everyone the same chance of securing a spot.

But the last voucher offer was massively over subscribed - with 25,000 people in the lobby at anyone time vying for just over 3000 rooms.

Meanwhile, a positive sample of the virus in Tauranga's wastewater was collected last Thursday, the Director-General of Health says.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield says further samples were taken from Tauranga and Mount Maunganui this morning, and additional samples are being taken from nearby areas.

Anyone with symptoms, or who has been to a location of interest in Tauranga, Waikato or Auckland is being urged to get a test.

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