Coronavirus: Novotel Hotel named as Auckland's second quarantine facility

By Rowan Quinn for RNZ

The Novotel Hotel in Auckland will become the city's newest COVID quarantine facility from midday tomorrow.

It will become the city's second facility especially for people with COVID-19 - or suspected of having the virus - with the Jet Park nearly full.

The Ellerslie hotel had previously been used for people isolating after returning to the country.

Joint head of MIQ Brigadier Rose King said the Jet Park, which has 202 quarantine rooms, was not yet full but it was expected to reach capacity as the outbreak grew.

There were currently 277 community cases nationwide, 263 of them in Auckland. Some modelling has suggested the current outbreak could grow to 1000.

Not every case required their own room because some families quarantined together.

Close contacts of cases who would struggle to isolate adequately in their own homes could also go into managed isolation or quarantine.

RNZ