A man in MIQ has gone on hunger strike over the restrictions on smoking and drinking.
Andre Huguet is critical of his treatment by MIQ staff at the Naumi Hotel MIQ facility in Auckland. (File pic) Photo: Naumi Hotel
Andre Huguet said he is unhappy with the treatment he has had from staff and the rules he has encountered, while Omicron spreads in the community outside.
MIQ regulations ban returnees from smoking or exercising outside until their first negative test result - and limits them to a "reasonable amount" of liquor delivered each day.
Huguet, who arrived from Sri Lanka late on Tuesday night, is in the Naumi Hotel MIQ facility in Auckland, in a room with a small courtyard outside.
He said officials won't let him access it until he returns a negative PCR test, and is granted a blue band.
While MIQ offers nicotine replacement therapy to smokers - acknowledging that they can't leave their room in the first 24 hours of their stay - Huguet argues he should be allowed to step just outside his room.
"I smoke, which is a terrible habit but I also have terrible anxiety problems and they get amplified greatly if I can't have a cigarette," he said.
"I don't want to mingle in their big yard and talk to people and all this, but just have a little cigarette and mind my own business."
Huguet was also informed he couldn't be delivered more than one bottle of wine at a time, under liquor laws.
MIQ guidelines say "only reasonable quantities" can be ordered for personal consumption, and larger deliveries will be held by staff and provided over the course of the returnees' stay.
It said returnees must be able to respond to staff or an emergency, as well as follow PPE and physical distancing rules.
The limit is one bottle of wine, six cans of beer, or four RTDs at one time.
Haguet said he had no need for more bottles of wine, but said he felt treated like a child.
When he spoke to officials about his concerns he felt they were "aggressive".
"So I kicked up a big stink," he said.
Huguet said he had no objection to a sensible, well thought out and respectful isolation system.
"We all have to make sacrifices, and I'm making a sacrifice. If you've got Omicron - you can sort of swan around your home and jump in the pool. If I've got Omicron - or even if I don't have Omicron - I have to come into this facility. I don't actually mind that but I just want us to be treated like human beings and not like caged animal."
He plans to continue his hunger strike "until the powers in control start respecting that we are responsible adults".
MIQ has been contacted for comment.