Australia has paused the quarantine-free one-way Trans-Tasman bubble as Auckland goes into lockdown after three coronavirus cases were recorded.
The one-way quarantine free agreement between Australia and New Zealand has once again been paused, after three cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Auckland.
Any passengers flying in from New Zealand between Monday 15 February and Wednesday 17 February will be required to hotel quarantine for 14 days.
The changes were made late last night.
It is expected that the situation will be reassessed on Wednesday.
What’s going on?
Like the state of Victoria, Auckland has entered a ‘short, sharp, lockdown’ to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
A family of three have tested positive for the virus in Auckland, where the Mother of the family works at an airline catering company.
Auckland went into level three restrictions from 11:59pm local time on Sunday 14 February, with the rest of New Zealand at alert level two.
According to a report by the ABC, health authorities are working to find out how the family contracted the virus and “whether COVID-19 could be out there in the community… or whether this is the start of what could be a chain of transmission”.
The one-way travel bubble
Since October, New Zealanders have been able to travel to Australia quarantine-free if they have been in NZ for 14 days or more and not been in a designated hotspot.
Last month, Australia has put a stop to the one-way New Zealand travel bubble for just under a week after a South African variant of COVID-19 was detected in a woman after 14 days of isolation.
Thankfully, the outbreak in Auckland last month was contained and the one-way bubble took off once more.
Despite the pause last month, New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said she believed the two-way Trans-Tasman bubble would still still “doable” by the end of Q4.
This will depend on the situation in both counties, nearer the time.