Australia and New Zealand agree travel ‘bubble’ as Covid-19 cases drop in the region

Australia and New Zealand agree travel ‘bubble’ as Covid-19 cases drop in the region | Secret Flying

Australia and New Zealand plan to restart flights between the two neighbours.

 

Australia and New Zealand will establish a trans-Tasman “travel bubble” that will allow the quarantine-free flow of people between the two neighbours, whilst remaining closed to the rest of the world.

 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a joint statement revealing that the two countries will undergo a coronvavirus-safe travel zone once lockdown restrictions are eased.

 

Both countries are expected to further ease some Covid-related restrictions later this week.

 

“Australians and New Zealanders travel across the ditch more than anywhere else. New Zealand is Australia’s largest source of tourists apart from China with 1.6 million Aussies visiting us,” Arden said this morning.

 

Ardern told reporters that the two countries are able to negotiate a reopening because there were a lot of similarities in the way they had handled the pandemic.

 

Speaking to the media, the Australian PM said: “When we are seeing Australians travel from Melbourne to Cairns – at about that time I would expect, everything being equal – we would be able to fly from Melbourne to Auckland or Christchurch or things like that.”

 

If successful, the “bubble” could grow to include more countries that also have a low number of cases – a wider scheme is planned with Pacific island countries and Canada.

 

Australia has recorded around 6,800 infections and 96 deaths, and New Zealand 1,137 cases and 20 fatalities.