Covid 19 coronavirus: travel bubble with the Cook Islands? Jacinda Ardern to reveal details

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is prepared to reveal details of a possible travel bubble with the Cook Islands, after speaking with the country’s prime minister today.

Ardern met with Mark Brown this afternoon, where the couple is believed to have discussed the details of such a bubble.

She is ready to reveal the details of this discussion when she presides over a press conference with Brown this afternoon.

At the moment, there is a one-way bubble between the two countries, but there has been pressure for it to open fully.

“One-way trips without quarantine started in January to test the protocols and the green corridor. It is working perfectly,” Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Eve Hayden told the AM Show.

“Now we have random people coming into the country, like judges, lawyers, and doctors.

“They do not seem to be less contagious than tourists, so we have no idea why tourism is not allowed at the moment.”

A two-way bubble will be on the agenda of the Ardern and Brown talks this afternoon.

But the Herald understands that key boxes still waiting to be checked include contact tracing ability and regular testing of border workers in the Cook Islands.

Yesterday, the Cook Islands launched the CookSafe + app, developed by Rush Digital RUSH, which created the NZ Covid Tracer app with the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

It will be available to residents of the Cook Islands and to Kiwis visiting the islands.

Even if CEO of Health Ashley Bloomfield approves the health criteria for the bubble, it wouldn’t start right away.

However, Ardern and Brown could announce a start date this afternoon.

The caution about the start of the bubble has focused on the lack of healthcare infrastructure there and how quickly the healthcare system would be overwhelmed in an outbreak.

The 2019 measles epidemic in Samoa and the number of daily Covid-19 cases on the rise in Papua New Guinea this month underscore the risk of exporting the virus to the Cook Islands.

Tourism is one of the most important sectors in the Cook Islands, accounting for 80 to 85 percent of the economy.

But it has been decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hayden said business owners have been struggling and that government handouts have only been enough to “eat and live.”

Earlier this week, Ardern revealed that the government would announce when the travel bubble with Australia will go into effect on April 6.

Before that, a number of technical issues need to be resolved and the proper regulatory mechanisms must be in place, Ardern said.

Bloomfield will also provide an evaluation.

Ardern said there have been 12 meetings between Australian and New Zealand officials about the travel bubble. The government was seeing a state-by-state bubble.

“We have to create a new regulation.”

Ardern said that “part of the talks” with the Australian government have related to visa issues, such as people getting a visa to come to New Zealand.