People walk past a MIQ facility. Source: Getty Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced the change today, after the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble freed up hundreds of extra MIQ spaces and had give the Government "options to manage risk in ways that were not previously available". The new changes would see all returnees in a particular 96-hour window be put into the same MIQ facilities until it is full or the time period is over. "The facilities will then 'lock down' for a 14-day cycle with no additional returnees allowed until after the last of the cohort have completed their stay and the facilities have been cleaned," Hipkins said.