The National Iwi Chairs pandemic response group has called for the number of New Zealanders returning home to be restricted to 1500 a week, almost half the current number of returnees.
As of 8am, 27 January a total of 5483 New Zealanders were due to return home in the next two weeks.
National Iwi Pandemic Response Group principal adviser Dr Rawiri Taonui said it was no longer sustainable to allow this number of arrivals into the country. The important thing is that the Northland case and the two cases in Auckland, that s the 11th outbreak in New Zealand and all our outbreaks have occured when the average number of returnees per week is over 2000, what that has caused is active cases in MIQ to be between 60 - 75, Taonui said.