Answers are needed quickly from the Government over how a Covid positive person escaped from the Ibis Novotel Ellerslie MIQ facility, National’s Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“This is obviously a very concerning situation and will cause many people to worry about the safety and security of our critical MIQ facilities.

“Three questions arise from today’s news. The first is why it took ten hours for Police to be informed of the escape. Police have confirmed the person escaped at 12.34am, but they were only told at 10.30am the next morning. Why the delay?

“The second question is at what time management at the MIQ facility knew or suspected this person had escaped.

“If there is a sizeable gap between the MIQ facility finding out and informing the Police, then that is even more concerning. There should be protocols in place for situations precisely like this because, let’s face it, it’s not the first time that people have tried to escape from MIQ.

“The third question is why the Prime Minister did not see fit to inform the public of the escape at today’s press conference. This is hardly the transparency expected from a Government that said it would be the most transparent government in New Zealand history, and it is hardly using the podium as the ‘Podium of Truth’ as the Prime Minister has called it before.

“We need an urgent investigation into what has happened here, and the Government needs to outline quickly what will be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“The last thing we need is Delta spreading further into the community through poor oversight of security at MIQ.”

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