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- New Zealand is floating the idea of a travel bubble directly between Australian states rather than a nationwide agreement after Australia’s snap decision to close its borders this week
- After New Zealand recorded a mystery case of COVID-19, Australia quickly closed its borders to its trans-Tasman neighbour for 72 hours
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the “disappointing” move is a blow to the confidence of the travel industries in both countries
- Now, Prime Minister Ardern has put forward the idea of establishing travel bubbles between states rather than an all-or-nothing nationwide deal
- It’s not sure how Australia will react as the 72-hour border closure approaches its end and New Zealand continues to record no other community cases of the virus
- However, two more cases of this specific strain of the virus have been discovered today in travellers who were staying in the same hotel as the woman who tested positive on Monday
- New Zealand health authorities are still investigating how the virus made its way into the community
New Zealand is floating the idea of a travel bubble directly between Australian states rather than a nationwide agreement after Australia’s snap decision to close its borders this week.
The Australian Government suspended a quarantine-free travel arrangement with our trans-Tasman neighbours after New Zealand recorded a new mystery case of COVID-19 — its first community case in two months.
The woman who tested positive had recently returned from Europe and tested negative twice before the positive test result came in. She is thought to have contracted the virus from another returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
While 15 of 16 close contacts of the new case have tested negative for the coronavirus with one result pending, Australia was quick to immediately clamp down on its New Zealand border arrangements and suspend travel from the country for 72 hours.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was “disappointed” by Canberra’s decision, which she said is a blow to the confidence of Australia’s and New Zealand’s travel sector.
Now, Prime Minister Ardern has floated the idea of establishing different trans-Tasman travel bubbles with Australia on a state-by-state basis instead of an all-or-nothing nationwide agreement.
Nevertheless, it’s not sure how exactly Australia will react to New Zealand’s COVID-19 situation as the end of the 72-hour border closure approaches.
As it stands, authorities are hopeful that a new outbreak of the virus has been avoided as no new positive community cases have turned up in the three days following the mystery case.
New Zealand’s Director-General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield, said so far, the signs are “encouraging” given that no one has tested positive for the virus in Northland, where the infected woman travelled after leaving quarantine.
But he admitted the situation is still unfolding.
“We’re not breathing out just yet,” the public health official said.
The woman allegedly visited 30 venues after leaving the Pullman Hotel where she was quarantining before testing positive for COVID-19.
Today, it two new cases of that same strain of COVID-19 were discovered in returned travellers who were also staying in the Pullman Hotel.
While they have their suspicions, New Zealand health authorities are still investigating exactly how the woman contracted the virus.
