A group of 80 returnees at a Rotorua MIQ hotel are now able to leave after their exit was held up by late day eight Covid-19 tests.
The group at Rydges Rotorua were due to depart at 8am today (Wednesday).
Returnees must spend at least 10 days in an MIQ facility and are tested on arrival, day three, day five or six and day eight or nine.
Day eight or nine tests determine whether or not a returnee can leave MIQ.
It comes after one of the returnees tested positive for the virus while in the facility.
An MIQ spokeswoman told 1News just before 1pm on Wednesday that the group’s test results had come back and all were negative.
“The cohort which were due to leave at 8am can now leave the Rydges Rotorua managed isolation facility.”
Earlier, Chris Bunny, head of MIQ, said the returnees were being kept back as health authorities could not be satisfied they were at low risk of having or transmitting the virus.
Bunny explained one of the returnees in the group had returned a positive day five test.
"We need to take every precaution," Bunny had said.
A Ministry of Health spokesman said the delay in processing the returnees' samples was due to part of a machine which analyses them malfunctioning. It is now being repaired.
He said the samples had been able to be reprocessed overnight.
"This incident was regrettable and we apologise for the impact this had on returnees."
The spokesman said the ministry wanted to reassure people national lab capacity was not under pressure.
"The testing network has processed 39,000 MIQ samples in the past four weeks. Pathlab have processed an average of 1100 samples per day over the past week," he said.
"Currently, 83 per cent of tests are processed within 24 hours, ahead of our target of 80 per cent."
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