[ad_1]
As South Australia experiences a new unwanted Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledges that there is very little chance of a travel operating bubble through Tasmania by Christmas.
Australia and New Zealand are tackling the pandemic with slightly different strategies, leading to a stalemate over the reopening of the border.
Australia is pursuing a suppression strategy, which involves blocking hotspots where cases reach a certain threshold, but New Zealand’s elimination strategy does not allow for the same tolerance for risk.
“What is happening in South Australia only further reinforces the importance of having a good understanding of how Australia intends to manage its internal borders when there are outbreaks,” Ardern said.
“If they have an outbreak but they are putting strong border controls in place, then it is manageable.
“But if they have a tolerance level for community transmission that is higher than ours, then it is problematic.
“What this underscores is why it is so important that New Zealand has not rushed in.”
While Kiwis can travel to New South Wales and the Northern Territory without the need to be quarantined for 15 days, no one entering New Zealand escapes the mandatory isolation period.
Ardern said it did not “have the necessary protections” to guarantee the Christmas reopening.
Still, New Zealand has the prospect of its country opening up to a destination soon: the Cook Islands.
The semi-autonomous Pacific nation has deep ties to New Zealand and has not had a case of coronavirus during the pandemic.
Kiwi officials are currently in the Cook Islands, inspecting the country’s air and sea borders, with a view to opening a bubble and restoring the tourism-dependent economy.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
The new rules go into effect Thursday. Source: 1 NEWS
Ardern said that once officials gave the green light to a vacancy, it would take three weeks to get it up and running.
Today, the Cabinet also made changes to the use of masks after another case of community fear in Auckland last week.
Starting Thursday, Auckland residents by public transport and all New Zealanders on airplanes will be required to wear masks, along with taxi drivers and Uber.
“These additional precautions are a small price to pay to maintain the economic and social freedoms that we have,” Ardern said.
