On Thursday, New Zealand found 23 new Covid-19 positive cases at its border, of which 17 were from India. New Zealand temporarily suspends the entry of Indian travelers, including its citizens, for two weeks.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said “We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India” in a news conference in Aukland. However, India has entered the second wave of Covid-19 and registering over a hundred thousands of cases every day.
New Zealand starts the suspension of Indian travelers entry to New Zealand from 1600 local time on April 11 until April 28. During this, the government will concentrate on the risk management protocols and measures to resume travel.
Ardern also said in a news conference that “I want to emphasize that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high-risk points of departure generally. This is not a country-specific risk assessment….”
New Zealand has nearly eradicated the coronavirus within its borders. The country has not recorded any community transmission within 40 days. But now, it has seen that people travelling New Zealand from India even its citizen are covid-19 infectious. The Prime Minister said that the Covid positive cases are rising and hit 7 cases on Wednesday which is the highest since October 2020.
On Thursday, New Zealand also reported one new locally infected case. The man works at a coronavirus managed isolation facility. He is 24 years of age and not vaccinated yet.
