COVID-19 managed isolation in New Zealand

Managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) was a quarantine system implemented by the New Zealand Government during the country's COVID-19 pandemic. Under the system, people entering New Zealand, COVID-19 positive cases and some of their close contacts were required to isolate at an MIQ facility for 14 days. Compulsory managed isolation and quarantine was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the 1pm press conference on 9 April 2020, with the system coming into effect for people boarding flights to New Zealand from midnight that day. The government contracted dozens of hotels in five cities that were exclusively used as managed isolation facilities. The task was organised by the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) unit, part of the COVID-19 All-of-Government Response Group.

On 10 March 2022, the New Zealand Government announced plans to phase out the MIQ system as part of plans to reopen the country's borders. Most of the MIQ facilities would revert to being hotels. However, four facilities would be retained for those needing to quarantine.^[1] By March 2022, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris 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.^[2]