Rotorua's MIQ facilities are being upgraded, Government footing the mammoth bill

The Government is pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into upgrading Rotorua's managed isolation and quarantine facilities.

Work to enhance the security of all 32 MIQ facilities nationwide has been under way since late last year but has been ramped up following a number of close calls.

Enhancements include CCTV, alarms on doors and other initiatives not outlined by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, who is footing the bill.

The total costs for the project are yet to be finalised, however, for the three hotels in Rotorua the work is expected to cost $616,459.

Installation work had already been completed at the Rydges and Ibis, and was expected to be completed at the Sudima next month, a MIQ spokesperson told the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend.

The final spend for the upgrades nationwide is expected to be close to $6.45 million.

Upgrades on the Sudima Quarantine Hotel Rotorua are expected to be finished next month. Photo / Andrew Warner

The key focus of MIQ was the protection of all returnees to New Zealand, staff within the facilities, and all New Zealanders, the spokesman said.

It also followed a model of continuous improvement, with recent initiatives in response to the ever-changing circumstances of the global pandemic.

"This has resulted in the adoption of new protocols, or tweaks to existing ones, for some facilities – along with the programme of upgrades to security and technology systems where necessary," they said.

It comes after the country was forced to enter alert level 2, except Auckland which went to level 3, on Sunday night after three community cases were found.

The three, from Papatoetoe in South Auckland, tested positive over the weekend but the source of their infections was not yet known.

Late last month there was a string of community cases in Northland after a person tested positive despite completing managed isolation at the Pullman Auckland.

Meanwhile, earlier this week a MIQ nurse revealed the intense work conditions inside the facilities that are pushing workers to the brink.

The nurse told the Herald she and others were quitting because they were too exhausted.

Additionally, some of New Zealand's most crucial MIQ workers, the cleaners, are being paid as little as $18.90 per hour despite the risk of their jobs.

E tū union organiser Mat Danaher said the living wage had been provided to security guards working at MIQ but not across hotel workers, including cleaners.

"Staff are pretty stressed just paying their bills, especially as many of them had their guaranteed hours slashed when Covid-19 hit, and they haven't been reinstated by their employers."

The operational room capacity across New Zealand's 32 MIQ facilities is 4500, and on an average day they can accommodate up to 6261 people.

In Rotorua, the combined capacity for the three hotels is 393 rooms.

"However this can change depending on how many families or groups are isolating together or if there are more individuals isolating separately," the spokesman said.

"MIQ has been consistently operating at well over a 90 per cent occupancy rate for the combined network of hotels."