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Rapid Review of Border Worker Testing (MIQ)

Provide assurance that border workers at an MIQ facility who were required to be tested were being tested.


Download the Rapid Review of Border Worker Testing Phase One

  • Mandatory testing and vaccination of border workers are key measures to prevent and minimise the spread of COVID-19.
  • In April 2021, the Border Executive Board commissioned an independent review of border worker testing. The focus was on whether those at the border who are required to be tested, are being tested.
  • The review was designed in two parts: phase one considered Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities; and phase two looked at both testing and vaccination at the aviation and maritime borders.

Phase One: testing of managed isolation and quarantine workers

  • The Phase One report is dated 21 June 2021 and its recommendations were based on the situation at that time. As was noted in the report, improvements were continually being made and so some of the findings in the review have been superseded by other changes. All recommendations have been closed or incorporated into business as usual activity. For example:
    • Improvements have been made to the Border Workforce Testing Register to improve its functionality. Regular emails are sent to border-facing employers (persons conducting a business or undertaking - PCBUs) informing them about upcoming developments and seeking feedback.
    • A holistic monitoring, education, compliance and enforcement approach has been adopted to ensure that those required to be tested are tested. Phase two of the review noted that “compliance with the [Required] Testing Order has improved considerably since the first phase of the review.”
    • Workers’ testing status is tracked and any overdue workers are followed up.
  • The Border Executive Board would like to thank the review team along with the people who supported these reviews.
  • The Border Executive Board would also like to acknowledge and thank New Zealand’s front line border workers who have done so much to keep COVID-19 out of New Zealand. In addition to vaccination and testing requirements discussed in these reviews, for the past two years their work has been completed in masks.