New Zealand welcomes back travellers from NSW following 48-hour pause

Sydney, Australia - May 5, 2014: Air New Zealand Airbus A320 taking off from Sydney Airport.

The New Zealand government has reinstated quarantine-free travel from NSW following a two-day halt due to concerns over two community cases of COVID-19 in the state.

New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response Minister, Chris Hipkins, said a meeting with the country’s health officials on Saturday determined that the risk to public health “remains low”.

Direct flights from NSW to New Zealand were paused at 11:59pm on Thursday, pending further information from NSW Health about two cases of COVID-19 in the Sydney community.

Since the two cases were confirmed in Sydney last week, there have been no new community cases of COVID-19 detected in NSW.

However, while the state has eased some restrictions from today, several are still in place for Greater Western Sydney for one week while investigations continues into the missing link between overseas travellers and the two community COVID-19 cases in Sydney.

Anyone who is in Australia and was at any of the locations of interest at the times specified is asked to follow NSW Health advice regarding isolation and testing and must not travel to New Zealand within 14 days from when they were at the location.

As before, anyone who has arrived in New Zealand and who was at a location of interest at the specified time must self-isolate immediately and call Healthline for information on when they should be tested.

The NZ government said anyone who is travelling to New Zealand from Australia will be required to follow some additional instructions in order to limit any risk of further spread of COVID-19.

Airlines will continue to ask people departing Australia whether they have visited any locations of interest in NSW both before and when disembarking from their flights.


Featured image source: iStock/Ryan Fletcher

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