Wellington | New Zealand health authorities on Thursday confirmed the appearance of a local case of COVID-19 in Auckland, two days after the decision to open a “bubble” with Australia in which their nationals will again be able to travel .
No containment of the largest city in the country or any change regarding the opening of this future “bubble” does not seem to be considered for the moment.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, however, announced the immediate suspension of flights from India, where most carriers of the virus have arrived in recent weeks.
The person who tested positive for COVID-19 is a security guard working at a hotel where New Zealanders are quarantined upon their return from abroad.
This new case highlights the difficulty of re-authorizing travel without quarantine in a country that has had almost no cases of local contamination for several months.
This “bubble” is due to open on April 19, more than a year after the South Pacific archipelago closed its borders due to the pandemic.
New Zealand and Australia have largely contained the epidemic, only sporadically recording a few outbreaks of contamination quickly controlled with the implementation of short local containments.
However, authorities have indicated that if a number of cases of COVID-19 emerge, they could suspend “the bubble”. Residents who decided to go to the neighboring country could suddenly find themselves forced to carry out an expensive quarantine on their return.
New Zealand currently has 95 active cases of COVID-19 – the security guard along with 94 other people arriving from overseas who tested positive on arrival. All were placed in a special quarantine center.
Most of those who tested positive are returning travelers from India via Dubai.
Ms Ardern said the suspension of entry into New Zealand for arrivals from India will be in effect from April 11 to 28.