nurses, 230 police, and 600 Defence Force personnel returned to their roles in the health, defence and police workforces. By March 2022, Hipkins estimated that the MIQ system had accommodated 230,000 people returning to New Zealand and 4,400 people who had contracted COVID-19 in the community. In mid–April, Radio New Zealand and 1 News reported that the Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay and Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield had agreed in late November 2021 that MIQ was no longer justified since the risk of COVID-19 transmission by international arrivals was no longer higher than domestic transmissions; citing a secret Ministry of Health memo. The memo had advised the Government to speed up the reopening of New Zealand's border. However, the Government had delayed opening the border until 2 March 2022. In response to media coverage of the memo, Grounded Kiwis spokesperson Martin Newell and National Party leader Christopher Luxon criticised the Government's decision to delay reopening the border to stranded citizens, residents and temporary visa holders. Hipkins, Ardern and Baker defended the Government's decision to delay reopening New Zealand's border, arguing that it gave health authorities enough time to boost vaccination rates and to delay the spread of Omicron. On 3 May 2022, Hipkins announced that unvaccinated visa holders, permanent residents, and Australian citizens residing in New Zealand would be able to travel to and from the country without having to undergo MIQ. He justified the New Zealand Government's decision on the basis of the lower health risks of overseas transmission and New Zealand's high vaccination rate. That same day, MBIE confirmed that the country's four remaining MIQ facilities in Auckland and Christchurch would close by August 2022 due to the low number of people using them. The Head of MIQ, Andy Milne, justified the closure on the basis that people entering New Zealand were no longer required to enter MIQ. According to 1 News, there were only 94 people using 54 rooms across the four facilities in early May 2022. List of managed isolation hotels The following hotels are in use, or have been used, as managed isolation facilities: Impact Economic impact the MIQ system had hosted 175,422 guests and had played an important role in securing New Zealand's borders from transitioning cases with COVID-19. MIQ has propped up the accommodation sector of the New Zealand economy, making extensive use of hotel facilities (which lost access to the