This week’s repatriation flight from Auckland New Zealand, originally scheduled for Friday, has been rescheduled until Saturday.

The decision is to allow health workers at different quarantine sites to prepare for a new group and disinfect the areas used by previous passengers, released on Friday.

Earlier this month, the Chairman of the National Emergency Operations Centre (N.E.O.C), Ulu Bismarck Crawley, said they were mindful that health workers need time to prepare for the arrival of more passengers.

 “We realised that if the flight is to arrive on Friday, it’s also the same day [that the] the currently quarantined passengers will finish their 14 days [of quarantine],” he said.

 “We’ve looked at how the Ministry of Health will need the time to clear and disinfect the places for new passengers.

 “The workers need to have enough time to properly clean what was used for quarantine for the others on the way to quarantine.”