New Zealand officials admit two women with Covid-19 met friends

Health officials in New Zealand have made an embarrassing U-turn in the case of two women recently arrived from Britain who were infected with Covid-19 and allowed to leave quarantine without being tested – admitting the pair met up with friends when they should not have done. The initial blunder by officials who failed to test the women for the virus before they were released early from quarantine on compassionate grounds was labelled an “unacceptable failure” by the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, on Wednesday. She added that New Zealand’s defence force would now oversee the quarantine of new arrivals and audit the quarantine process. “It should never have happened and it cannot be repeated,” Ardern said.