Minister of Covid Response Chris Hipkins has slammed a former staff worker at a managed isolation facility for their “unacceptable behaviour”, after an encounter with a returnee came to light.
Hipkins was asked at today’s Covid-19 briefing about the situation after it surfaced this morning the then-employee had a 20-minute “encounter” in a bedroom with a returnee on January 7 at Auckland’s Grand Millennium Hotel.
The employee has since been sacked, Hipkins confirmed.
“I was informed not long after [January 7],” Hipkins said.
“I did ask that they do a thorough investigation into that to see what had happened and whether any further action needed to be taken.
“That person is no longer working for managed isolation.
“It’s unacceptable behaviour.”
Hipkins said investigations revealed there had been “communications” between the pair organising the encounter which were done via written notes, one of which was done on the inside of a face mask.
The encounter was then set up with the former employee delivering a bottle of wine to the returnee before the two remained together for 20 minutes.
Hipkins said he didn’t dive into finer details of the encounter after being asked if it was a sexual one but regardless of the purpose, it remained unacceptable.
He also didn’t find out if the pair knew each other prior to the encounter.
“At the end of the day we ask everybody to adhere to the standards we put in place [but] I cannot control the actions of every individual.
“But we absolutely make clear what the rules are and when people breach the rules, there are consequences.
“I don’t think there’s slipping standards – I think that is an isolated event.”
Hipkins said he would be “taking advice” on whether further consequences, such as criminal charges, should be considered and he didn’t inform the public of the encounter initially because it was still being investigated.
SHARE ME