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This story was originally published on Cook Islands News and republished with permission.
Negotiations to form a travel bubble between the Cook Islands and New Zealand have returned to the starting point following the latest community case of Covid-19 in New Zealand.
After 22 days without a new case in the community, a dock worker tested positive for the virus last week, halting an effort by Cook Islands authorities to interact with their New Zealand counterparts to form a travel quarantine bubble. free between the two countries.
Officials from both countries have been working to finalize the agreement under the premise that there will be at least 28 days without Covid-19 cases in the community.
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Fletcher Melvin, chair of the Private Sector Task Force, says the Cook Islands government now needs to explore other options to restart the tourism industry.
Melvin reiterated his earlier proposal to open the country to long-term visitors.
COOK ISLANDS TOURISM
The Cook Islands had been in advanced talks about a travel bubble with New Zealand.
To give tourism a much-needed boost, the Private Sector Task Force would like the government to allow financially secure New Zealanders with sufficient health insurance coverage to stay in the Cook Islands for up to 180 days.
Liana Scott, president of the Tourism Industry Council, said all options should be considered to find a perfect medium “as to what can work that can stimulate ‘new’ cash into the economy, while at the same time they keep the most secure protocols. ” .
“The reality is probably that regardless of the precautions that are taken, the inevitability of isolated cases will remain.”
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown agrees that it is becoming clear that random cases will continue to occur in New Zealand.
“We must plan and design processes and systems that take these considerations into account, while at the same time looking for ways to get back into our tourism business,” Brown said.
It also said they would “immediately review” their current settings regarding incoming passengers.
A week ago, Brown announced that incoming New Zealand passengers would no longer need to undergo a 14-day supervised quarantine starting this Friday.
However, he said that if a case of community transmission were to develop in New Zealand, supervised quarantine in the Cook Islands would be immediately restored.
“We will be closely monitoring what New Zealand will do and working directly with NZ Health officials to determine the best course of action for the Cook Islands,” said Brown.
Meanwhile, University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said For the first time expect cases similar to the latter in New Zealand in the future.
“The pandemic is intensifying globally, New Zealand has many connections to the outside world through airports, seaports and arriving passengers and all those situations that can allow the virus to return to New Zealand.
“If we now look at the pattern of the last few months, we’ve had four other examples of the virus crossing the border, assuming the big Auckland outbreak was also introduced this way, so this is really the fifth example out of the last two o three months. We are seeing a pattern, it will probably not be a very predictable pattern, but I think the good news is that the last four of these infractions have been very small and they have recovered quickly. “
– Cook Islands News
