New research shows New Zealand's managed isolation and quarantine facilities are up to four times more likely to be breached than their Australian counterparts.

The report, whose authors include public health experts Michael Baker and Nick Wilson, is yet to be peer reviewed. It analysed 22 MIQ and quarantine failures in New Zealand and Australia up until the end of March. It found more than 13 failures for every 1000 positive cases going through a facility in New Zealand versus 3.5 failures per 1000 in Australia - almost a four-fold difference in risk. The failure rate per 100,000 travellers was 7.8 in New Zealand compared to 4.7 in Australia. The report said one reason for New Zealand's significantly higher failure risk is it had a "lower-quality approach". "The significantly higher failure risk per 1000 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases transiting quarantine in New Zealand versus Australia could reflect a lower quality approach in the former, with perhaps some of the difference due to greater detection in New Zealand from more border worker testing over a longer period." There were a total of 22 failures. "In Australia, 12 failures were identified, one causing over 800 deaths (Victoria's second wave) and eight out of the 12 resulting in lockdowns," the report said. "In New Zealand, there were ten failures, with one causing an outbreak with three deaths, and also a lockdown."
<snip>

“Will people who have been vaccinated in other countries be able to come in even if we haven’t finished our own rollout?”Ardern said the answer was “possibly”

American Airlines is preparing to resume flights to New Zealand from the end of this year, assuming an easing of current restrictions which may permit travel by passengers who have been fully vaccinated.The Oneworld member plans to reopen three US-NZ routes across December 2021-January 2022, all flown by the airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets.

• Los Angeles-Auckland is slated to resume as a daily service from December 16 2021
• Dallas/Fort Worth-Auckland is also scheduled daily from January 4, 2022
• Los Angeles-Christchurch will start from January 5 2022 with three flights per week

<snip>

• Funding to support the COVID-19 health response and quarantine facilities for a further 18 months
• Money drawn down from the COVID-19 contingency fund
• Further improvements to health response administration and governance
• Lessons learned on surveillance and testing

<snip>

Almost 2000 managed isolation rooms sit empty each day, while New Zealanders trying to get home say they are struggling with an ongoing lack of vouchers.

Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has been releasing vouchers in batches, but high demand has seen them snapped up in minutes, with no rooms showing as available for the next four months. Meanwhile the number of rooms intentionally left empty as "contingency" increased from 400 to 900 at the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble, while about 200 are unavailable because of hotel maintenance at the Grand Mercure and Grand Millennium. The ministry said others were unavailable as it changed the way returnees were grouped, and moved to a 'cohort' intake system. That meant up to 1983 rooms were empty this week, while about 3000 were occupied.
<snip>