An investigation report into the absconding incident at the Novotel & Ibis Ellerslie MIQ facility on 2 September 2021 has been released today.

Joint Head of MIQ, Brigadier Rose King said a number of recommendations have been made, which she welcomes, and action in response is well underway.

“MIQ has served New Zealand well, helping to bring over 180,000 people home safely,” said Brigadier King.

“The MIQ system is something that continually evolves and changes – which reflects the changing nature of the COVID-19 virus. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we review incidents to ensure we capture any learnings and make any necessary changes.

“We’ve taken a really close look at how this incident occurred to see how we can strengthen the wider MIQ system and improve the processes across all of our facilities.

“Immediately following the absconding incident in early September I launched an investigation into how it occurred, what we could have done differently and how we can improve moving forward. I particularly wanted to focus on policies and procedures. The investigation found that there was no one single point of failure resulting in this person being able to abscond.

“The resulting report includes a number of recommendations for improvements, all are either complete or underway, including:

· Developing an MIQ Community Case Management framework so that information relating to community cases can be more effectively shared between agencies to ensure safety, wellbeing and risk factors are understood;

· Introducing a wellbeing and risk profile assessment for community cases;

· Updating and improving site security plans and settings, including a review of CCTV controls, improving training for security staff and ensuring there is a shift supervisor for the security team.

“Of the more than 180,000 people who have been through MIQ since March 2020, we have had 13 incidents involving 18 absconders. Every single event is extremely disappointing and they are all taken very seriously. But people in our facilities are not prisoners, or under arrest. We expect community cases and returnees from overseas to follow the rules and the overwhelming majority do their part to keep New Zealand safe.

“We will be doing our utmost to ensure that our processes are tightened, where appropriate, and the community is kept as safe as possible from further incidents such as this,” Brigadier King said.

Subsequent absconding incidents by community cases are also being investigated and reports will follow in due course.

To view the report visit: https://www.miq.govt.nz/about/news/

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