Page 2 - Commodore Darryn Webb News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The facilities were an unprecedented response to an unprecedented threat: coronavirus. The need for large-scale accommodation quickly became apparent in late March 2020 when the border was closed and Kiwis flooded home.  "Fifteen hotels were quickly contracted in Auckland," says Megan Main, one of the joint heads of MIQ, reflecting on the past year's COVID-19 response.  "By April 9, when the Prime Minister announced managed isolation was compulsory, we had 18 hotels to house returning Kiwis. We now have 32 facilities, across five regions, with an operational capacity of 4500 rooms, supporti...

Photo: RNZ /Dom Thomas But it will be another month until the worker representatives are properly trained up and have actual legal powers to make the workplaces safer. A unionist says she had been "terrified" early on for the low-paid - mostly Māori or Pasifika, often older cleaners, and other quarantine workers - when PPE was lacking. But that now, at last, government officials were meeting their legal obligations. "The time it took to actually get through to them was far too long," said Unite Union's hotel organiser Shanna Reeder. "It should have been top of the list. It should have been o...

Tom Lee/Stuff Brigadier Jim Bliss, head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ), pictured in Hamilton shortly after he was appointed in mid-December. The people of Hamilton – and New Zealand at large – don’t need to live in fear of any further mass breakouts from their local Covid quarantine hotels, reckons Brigadier Jim Bliss. Bliss – who took over from Air Commodore Darryn Webb earlier this month as the head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) – was in Hamilton on Sunday to check out the Ibis Tainui, Jet Park and Distinction hotels, where arrivals from overseas have been ...

US shocked to hear Australians stranded abroad this Christmas 15 Dec, 2020 08:13 PM 5 minutes to read Passengers arriving at Sydney Airport's strictly controlled borders. Photo / File news.com.au Australia's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been, for the most part, a success. In comparison to other Western nations — the United Kingdom and the United States chief among them — the country's conduct and swift uptake of restrictions has been lauded by leaders, experts and media around the globe. But 10 days from Christmas, and on the doorstep of a COVID-normal 2021 spent waiting for a...

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says Cabinet has agreed to expand the small business lending scheme. "The scheme opened in May, and to date close to 100,000 businesses have received the loan, with a total lending of $1.6 billion," he says. "The average value of each loan is modest, at around $17,000, with smaller businesses being the target. It is much needed working capital to help businesses who have been in a tight spot. A small number of borrowers have already repaid their loan." He says supporting small businesses remains a central principal in Labour's five-point economic plan, and the...