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Day after travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand airport employee tests positive | To travel

Down Under, neighboring islands of New Zealand and Australia have entered into a travel pact: they are in each other’s bubble and lift the travel restrictions between each other. Barely a day later, an airport employee in Auckland tests positive for the corona virus. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern assumes that this does not change the agreement.




No flights between the two countries have been suspended for the time being following the announcement of the Covid-19 contamination at Auckland Airport in New Zealand. On Monday, thousands of passengers flew from one country to another for the first time in more than a year. It was an emotional reunion for many family members and friends.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the infected person was cleaning planes from “high-risk countries”. It is striking that the employee was fully vaccinated. Ardern therefore reiterated that a complete vaccination does not completely eliminate the risk of infection, but it does prevent infected people from “getting sick and not going to die”.

It was immediately busy at the airports Down Under. © AFP

Ardern had not yet consulted with her Australian colleague Scott Morrison, but she did not expect any changes to the newly created travel bubble between the two countries, which will no longer require travelers to be quarantined upon arrival. “When we opened the borders, we both knew of course that we would continue to have cases at the border … We accept that this is part of our trip together, and I think Australia will accept that too,” Ardern said.

Australia and New Zealand have the advantage of both being an island, albeit a very large one as far as Australia is concerned. Both countries received praise for their rigorous approach to the corona pandemic. Australia has 910 corona deaths, New Zealand barely 26. In March they both closed their borders and imposed a mandatory quarantine for residents returning home.


EPA

© EPA

Since October, the Kiwis have been allowed to travel to most Australian states without a quarantine obligation, but that rule was not reciprocal as there were still sporadic outbreaks of Covid-19 in Australia.

According to the rules of the new travel bubble, passengers must first have spent fourteen days in Australia or New Zealand. Also, the result of their corona test must already be known and they should not have any symptoms.


AFP

© AFP

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