variant outbreak that began in auckland in august 2021. on 21 october, the government confirmed that repatriation flights carrying new zealand citizens who had been deported from australian under section 501(3a) of the australian migration act 1958 would resume in november 2021 following a three-month hiatus. the government has contracted a designated miq facility to host these returnees. on 28 october, covid-19 response minister hipkins announced that international arrivals will only have to isolate for seven days from 14 november in an effort to free up about 1,500 rooms a month. from 8 november, fully vaccinated travellers from low risk pacific island countries such as the cook islands will be eligible for quarantine-free travel. on 24 november, hipkins announced that miq border restrictions would be eased in a three-stage process over 2022: from 17 january, all fully vaccinated new zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to new zealand from australia without having to go through managed isolation and quarantine. from 14 february, all fully vaccinated new zealanders and other eligible travellers can travel to new zealand from all other countries without having to go through miq. from 30 april, all fully vaccinated foreign travellers can travel to new zealand without having to go through miq. on 21 december 2021, hipkins announced that the government would be delaying the planned reopening of the country's border to the end of february 2022 in order to combat the spread of the sars-cov-2 omicron variant. in addition, the length of stay at miq facilities for all travellers was raised to ten days, with no self-isolation component. hipkins also announced that the government would treat everyone on an international flight with a positive case as a close contact. 2022 on 18 january, hipkins postponed the next miq lottery due to a tenfold increase in omicron cases detected at the border. grounded kiwis member and australian–based expatriate maxine strydom stated that the government's decision would cause new zealanders stranded abroad emotional and mental stress since many were facing expiring visas and job losses. while health economist professor paula lorgelly expressed disappointment with the suspension, she said that she understood the government's decision, describing it as "a short-term pain for what i perceive to be quite a long-term gain." in mid–january 2022, the new zealand herald reported that a family of four had entered new zealand without miq vouchers, having arrived on a transit ticket to fiji. that same day, kiwiblog published a guest post by auckland barrister tudor clee outlining the method to enter new zealand without obtaining an miq voucher prior. on 21 january, stuff reported that an online group for new zealanders stranded overseas was suggesting that new zealanders could skip the miq process by posing as transit passengers traversing through new zealand. while the head of miq operations melissa ross described attempts to enter the country without an miq voucher as "selfish acts" that would strain the country's miq system, the lawyer arran hunt argued that these returning travelers' actions was not illegal since section 18 of the new zealand bill of rights act 1990 granted all new zealand citizens the right to enter the country. on 3 february, ardern announced that the country's borders would be reopened in five stages throughout 2022. under this arrangement, vaccinated new zealanders and eligible travellers would be able to go into self-isolation and undergo testing on arrival rather than having to enter miq: 11.59pm, 27 february: self-isolation opens for new zealanders and eligible travellers coming from australia. the self isolation period would last for ten days. 11.59pm, 13 march: open to new zealanders and eligible travellers from the rest of the world; skilled workers earning at least 1.5x median wage; working holiday visa holders. the self isolation period would last for seven days. 11.59pm, 12 april: offshore temporary visa holders who still meet visa requirements; 5,000 international students; consideration of class exemptions for critical workers who do not meet the 1.5x median wage test. the self isolation period would last for seven days. july: anyone from australia; visa-waiver travellers; the introduction of new accredited employer work visa, and the phasing out of skilled worker exemptions. october: border reopens to visa categories from the rest of the world. unvaccinated travellers would still be required to go into miq facilities. while the government plans to phase out miq and gradually convert facilities back into hotels and motels, it still plans to maintain a core quarantine capacity in the form of a national quarantine service. in response to the government's announcement, university of otago epidemiologist professor michael baker cautiously welcomed the self isolation provision but expressed concerns about supervision. university of otago senior lecturer dr lesley gray expressed support for a staged reopening since 94% of the population was double vaccinated but expressed concerns about safeguarding unvaccinated children and the vulnerable. university of canterbury professor michael plank opined that a staged border reopening would help mitigate the risk of a huge jump in cases. by contrast, dr emily harvey, a senior consultant/researcher at market economics ltd and principal investigator with te pūnaha matatini, expressed concern that the proposed rapid antigen testing regime of doing two tests between six days was insufficient and would miss a large number of infections. the national party welcomed the planned reopening of the border while the act party called for the abolition of miq. the green party urged the government to support māori and pasifika vaccination efforts while advocating for the free distribution of n95 or equivalent masks. on 17 february, the ministry of business, innovation and employment amended the public health risk assessment tool to allow more people to be released from miq on compassionate grounds. these included more applications for allowing people travel between islands and approving applications featuring children. this amendment was approved by director-general of health ashley bloomfield. on 28 february, ardern announced that the new zealand cabinet had decided based on advice from the epidemiologist david skegg's team that vaccinated travellers entering the country will no longer need to self-isolate from 11.59pm on 2 march. this decision was balanced with other factors including the gradual reopening of new zealand's borders and rising community cases. all travellers will be required to undergo rapid antigen testing within 24 hours and on the fifth or sixth day of their arrival. in addition, the government accelerated its plans to reopen the border. new zealanders and other eligible critical workers will be able to enter the country from 11:59pm on 4 march. due to immigration processes, non-new zealanders on temporary visas including working holiday visa holders and recognised seasonal employer workers who are part of the second stage of the government's reopening plan will be eligible to enter new zealand from 13 march without having to self-isolate. prior to the government's announcement, the advocacy group "grounded kiwis (which represents new zealanders stranded abroad by border restrictions) had questioned the rationale for retaining the miq system in the light of rising community cases. on 10 march, hipkins announced that all but four of the country's 32 miq facilities would revert to being hotels by the end of june 2022. four miq facilities would remain for those needing to undergo managed isolation. hipkins indicated that the government had plans to maintain some managed isolation capacity in the form of either hotels or purpose-built quarantine facilities. with the winding down of the miq network, 300 healthcare workers and nurses, 230 police, and 600 defence force personnel returned to their roles in the health, defence and police workforces. by march 2022, hipkins estimated that the miq system had accommodated 230,000 people returning to new zealand and 4,400 people who had contracted covid-19 in the community. in mid–april, radio new zealand and 1 news reported that the director of public health caroline mcelnay and director-general of health ashley bloomfield had agreed in late november 2021 that miq was no longer justified since the risk of covid-19 transmission by international arrivals was no longer higher than domestic transmissions; citing a secret ministry of health memo. the memo had advised the government to speed up the reopening of new zealand's border. however, the government had delayed opening the border until 2 march 2022. in response to media coverage of the memo, grounded kiwis spokesperson martin newell and national party leader christopher luxon criticised the government's decision to delay reopening the border to stranded citizens, residents and temporary visa holders. hipkins, ardern and baker defended the government's decision to delay reopening new zealand's border, arguing that it gave health authorities enough time to boost vaccination rates and to delay the spread of omicron. on 3 may 2022, hipkins announced that unvaccinated visa holders, permanent residents, and australian citizens residing in new zealand would be able to travel to and from the country without having to undergo miq. he justified the new zealand government's decision on the basis of the lower health risks of overseas transmission and new zealand's high vaccination rate. that same day, mbie confirmed that the country's four remaining miq facilities in auckland and christchurch would close by august 2022 due to the low number of people using them. the head of miq, andy milne, justified the closure on the basis that people entering new zealand were no longer required to enter miq. according to 1 news, there were only 94 people using 54 rooms across the four facilities in early may 2022. in mid-december 2022, newsroom reported that two new zealand citizens who entered new zealand on transit tickets in january 2022 had been subject to enforcement by police and fined $1000. barrister tudor clee defended the case pro bono and the fines were dismissed by the court. the court ruled that they were legally entitled to enter the country as new zealand citizens. that same month, newshub reported that the new zealand government had considered charging citizens using the transit method to enter new zealand with an imprisonable offence of up to six months in jail or a nz$12,000 fine. prime minister ardern had defended the consideration of imprisonment on the groups that those using the transit method were causing "so much distress for those already using the system." after the media broke the story about people entering new zealand via the "transit route," the government panicked, and a panel consisting of crown law, multiple ministries and advisors accepted that they could not stop the route. list of managed isolation hotels aucklandhamiltonrotoruawellingtonchristchurchlocation of managed isolation hotels in new zealand the following hotels are in use, or have been used, as managed isolation facilities: hotel nameimagelocationcomments crowne plaza aucklandauckland four points by sheratonauckland grand mercure aucklandauckland grand millenniumauckland haka hotel newmarketaucklanduntil early july 2020 ibis ellerslieauckland m socialauckland novotel ellerslieauckland pullman hotelauckland ramada aucklandaucklanduntil 1 september 2020 rydges aucklandauckland sebel manukauauckland so/ aucklandauckland stamford plazaauckland waipuna hotel and conference centreauckland holiday inn auckland airportauckland airport jet park hotelauckland airport naumi auckland airportauckland airport novotel auckland airportauckland airport sudima auckland airportauckland airport chateau on the parkchristchurch crowne plaza christchurchchristchurchfrom 18 august 2020 distinction christchurch hotelchristchurch commodore hotelchristchurch airport novotel christchurch airportchristchurch airport sudima christchurch airportchristchurch airport distinction hotel te rapahamilton ibis tainuihamilton jet park hotelhamilton ibis rotoruarotorua rydges rotoruarotorua sudima rotoruarotorua grand mercurewellington bay plaza hotelwellington impact economic impact by 29 september 2021 the miq system had hosted 175,422 guests and had played an important role in securing new zealand's borders from transitioning cases with covid-19. miq has propped up the accommodation sector of the new zealand economy, making extensive use of hotel facilities (which lost access to the formerly extensive international tourism market) and providing employment for new zealanders. on 17 november, the government disclosed that it had failed to collect invoices worth at least nz$36 million for miq stays. the new zealand herald also reported that an ōpōtiki woman had been pursued by debt collectors over a nz$4,000 bill for an miq stay that she never had due to mistaken identity. on 22 june 2022, radio new zealand reported that the ministry of business, innovation and employment had spent nearly nz$800 million on leasing agreements with 33 hotels repurposed for miq usage between october 2020 and march 2022. mental health according to a radio new zealand report published on 1 october 2021, psychologists reported emerging evidence of long-term and in some cases "severe" effects on