SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) – Passengers on two flights between Australia and New Zealand have been ordered to instantly isolate and bear COVID-19 testing after authorities traced a traveller who examined constructive in Sydney after visiting Wellington.
The case, which provides to a rising coronavirus outbreak in Sydney, prompted New Zealand authorities to droop quarantine-free journey to and from New South Wales state for 3 days from midnight on Tuesday.
The Qantas QAN.AX flight to Wellington on Friday and the Air New Zealand AIR.NZ flight to Sydney on Monday had been added to a listing of virus “sizzling spots” drawn up by Australian authorities.
The checklist has been rising with 21 infections detected over the previous six days in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.
Masks have been made obligatory in any respect indoor places in state capital Sydney in a bid to include the Delta variant, which has been labeled by the World Well being Group as among the many 4 COVID-19 variants of concern.
The traveller case has additionally prompted New Zealand well being officers to contemplate a lockdown in Wellington, with authorities saying the individual probably visited a number of fashionable vacationer places within the metropolis.
New Zealand and Australia opened up a so-called “journey bubble” in April. There have been periodic, focused suspensions since then resulting from small outbreaks in Australia.
Snap lockdowns, robust social distancing guidelines and swift contact tracing have helped each Australia and New Zealand to include outbreaks and hold their COVID-19 numbers comparatively low.
New Zealand reported its final domestically acquired case in February whereas Australia has had sporadic outbreaks.
Australia has reported simply over 30,350 instances and 910 deaths for the reason that pandemic started, whereas New Zealand recorded greater than 2,300 confirmed instances and 26 deaths.
(Reporting by Renju Jose; enhancing by Jane Wardell)
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