A Navy training area being hurriedly converted to a quarantine area for Kiwis returning from Wuhan due to the coronavirus outbreak will be more holiday resort than hospital, a source says.
Whangaparaoa Military Training Facility lies on Defence Force land at the end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
Dozens of New Zealanders, set to return on a Government-chartered flight this week, will be isolated at the site north of Auckland for two weeks.
Seventy Kiwis trapped in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, are to be evacuated from China.
In 2010, new facilities at the Navy base replaced 1940s-era buildings at the site.
A defence source said the upgrade was a big improvement and the facility is now palatial - as military installations go.
"It's sweet as up there.
"It's very, very flash."
The facility hosts about 16 buildings, isolated at the end of the Peninsula, and separated from the Army Bay community near Shakespear Regional Park.
The source estimated the mess could hold about 200 people.
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Accommodation at the facility numbers about 150 beds, not including staff accommodation, the source said.
The area is mainly used by the Royal New Zealand Navy for training its recruits and includes live firing and recreation areas.
A NZ Defence Force (NZDF) spokesman said it was preparing to host New Zealanders returning from Wuhan at the facility.
The source estimated the mess could hold about 200 people.
Due to the preparations they declined a request by Stuff to visit the facility.
It is unclear who exactly will staff the installation when the evacuees arrive.
Health Minister David Clark said they would immediately be placed in compulsory isolation for two weeks.
Clark said health staff would check them daily, but otherwise they would try to keep a sense of normality for people and families.
