Quarantine-Free Travel Is Set to Resume Between New Zealand and Some Australian States
From Sunday, July 4, New Zealand will restart the trans-Tasman bubble with Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.
Victorians, South Australians, Tasmanians and Australian Capital Territory residents will all soon be able to holiday in New Zealand again, with the trans-Tasman bubble set to reopen on a restricted basis. Quarantine-free travel between Australia and NZ was put on pause on Saturday, June 26 due to rising COVID-19 cases in the former, with the NZ Government pledging to review the situation within 72 hours — which it has now done.
From 11.59pm NZT/9.59pm AEST on Sunday, July 4, folks who live in the three aforementioned Aussie states and one territory will be permitted into NZ without quarantining — so if you're a Melburnian in need of a holiday after the city's lockdown earlier this month, that's great news.
The trans-Tasman bubble will still remain suspended with all other Aussie states and territories, so with New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Those four regions all currently have some form of lockdown either in place or coming into effect — until Friday, July 9 in Greater Sydney and till Friday, July 2 in plenty of Queensland, for instance — so residents there can't travel far anyway.
https://twitter.com/covid19nz/status/1409703615296532483
In a statement today, Tuesday, June 29, NZ COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins did note that the plan to resume the bubble could with selected Aussie regions could still change, depending on what the next few days hold. "The health advice today is that at this point, the spread of COVID-19 in those parts of Australia appears to have been contained. There is robust surveillance, testing and contact tracing to detect and manage cases, and adequate border controls are in place to prevent the spread of new cases," the Minister said. "Officials will continue to review the situation between now and Sunday."
Victorians, South Australians, Tasmanians and ACT residents keen to head to NZ when the bubble kicks back in will need to provide evidence of a negative pre-departure test before they're able to fly. Also, you can't have been in Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia on or after 10.30pm NZT/8.30pm AEST on Saturday, June 26 — or in NSW after 11.59pm NZT/9.59pm AEST on Tuesday, June 22.
Regarding the other states, "the pause with Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Queensland will remain in place so that outstanding test results can be returned and to give New Zealand time to assess next steps. This will be reviewed again on Tuesday 6 July," said the Minister.
To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. To find out more about the virus and travel restrictions in New Zealand, head over to the NZ Government's COVID-19 hub.
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