NZ ANNOUNCED TIGHTER BORDER RESTRICTIONS AS NEW CASES OF COVID-19 EMERGE

Sun 03 October 2021:

As new cases of COVID-19 have arisen in previously COVID-free areas, New Zealand has imposed stricter border restrictions.

“We are introducing the requirement for air travellers aged 17 and over, who are not New Zealand citizens, to be fully vaccinated to enter New Zealand,” Christ Hipkins, the minister for COVID-19 response, said on Sunday.

Air New Zealand, the country’s flag carrier, also announced that beginning February 1, passengers on all international flights will be subject to a “no jab, no fly” policy.

Due to tight border controls and lockdowns, the country has been generally successful in limiting the virus, with only 27 deaths in a population of five million. This has allowed pre-pandemic life to continue.

However, the tightened border controls came after the city of Hamilton and the nearby hamlet of Raglan were placed under a five-day lockdown, with only essential travel permitted, after two persons tested positive for the virus.

The infections are not linked to the recent outbreak in Auckland, which is 160 kilometers (99 miles) distant.

The city of two million has been on lockdown for over seven weeks as officials battle a highly transmissible Delta strain outbreak that has infected 1,320 people.

Over the weekend, about 2,000 people attended an anti-lockdown rally in Auckland, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as a “complete slap in the face” for those who had followed the strict regulations prohibiting public meetings.

“It was both illegal and morally wrong,” she stated.

New Zealand is pursuing a “COVID zero” approach to eradicate the virus.

Before the recent Auckland epidemic, it had been six months since there had been no community transmission.

According to the prime minister, tight lockdowns can be lifted if 90% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated, as contrasted to the present 46%.

“We have a different approach to COVID within our sights, and in our hands,” Ardern said on Sunday.

“So as we all look ahead and think about summer, and the plans we are making, make the first step a vaccine. It is the thing that will make those summer plans possible.”

(with agencies)

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent