27 SEPTEMBER 2021

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Article from BTNews 27 SEPTEMBER 2021

Oz – New Zealand problems

Travel between Australia and New Zealand remains severely restricted until at least the last part of November.

In a statement, New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister, Chris Hipkins, said: “When QFT (quarantine-free travel) was established with Australia, both our countries had very few recent cases of Covid-19 community transmission, and a very similar elimination strategy. This has changed significantly leading to our decision to suspend QFT for a further eight weeks.

“Uncontrolled community transmission is still occurring in Australia, with case numbers continuing to steadily increase in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. A small number of cases also continue to appear intermittently in other states and territories. In New Zealand as well, we’re getting on top of an outbreak in Auckland.

“Protecting New Zealand from any possible further spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 is our absolute priority. We have made great progress to contain our current outbreak and are working hard to ease restrictions next week. Reopening quarantine-free travel with Australia at this point could put those gains at risk.”

Arrivals into New Zealand need to spend 14 days in Managed Isolation and Quarantine accommodation (MIQ) at their own expense.

With Qantas moving towards opening up international flights it was thought that the Australian gateway to New Zealand would become easier but it does look like New Zealand’s border will remain largely closed into 2022.

www.beehive.govt.nz/release/quarantine-free-travel-australia-remain-suspended-further-8-weeks

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