Amid a rise in cases of COVID-19 infection in Australia, the New Zealand governmet on Saturday announced that it will pause the travel bubble between all Australian states and territories for three days beginning from Saturday, 8:30 pm onwards. According to a report, the decision was taken following multiple cases and outbreaks across Australia in differing stages of containment.
The travel bubble will remain suspended till 10:00 pm of June 29.
New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the suspension was necessary due to the growing number of cases being reported across Australia.
Mr Hipkins said, "I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters, it is the right thing to do to keep COVID-19 out of New Zealand."
However, the New Zealand govt has said that it would continue to monitor the situation closely and the decision would be reviewed on Monday.
In a statement, the govt said, anyone who was in Australia from June 21 and was now in New Zealand should monitor their symptoms and regularly check Australian exposure sites.
Amid covid concerns, the NZ government had already decided to close the travel bubble to New South Wales until July 7. The bubble only reopened to Melbourne residents on Tuesday, after being closed for a month.
