Friday, July 23, 2021

New Zealand Shuts Australia Travel Bubble as Sydney’s Covid Outbreak Worsens

THE GUARDIAN: Jacinda Ardern pauses flights for eight weeks as her health chief says the spread in NSW was ‘clearly not under control’

New Zealand is shutting down the quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia for two months, as the country grapples with a number of serious outbreaks of Covid-19.

The country had already paused travel with the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The new pause applies to all of Australia for the next eight weeks.

At a press briefing on Friday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said because of the Delta variant there was “greater risk now … than when we opened the travel bubble”.

“Covid has changed and so must we.”

Ardern said that she wanted to “acknowledge the impact it is having very directly on people’s lives. Covid-19 is devastating”. » | Tess McClure in Christchurch | Friday, July 23, 2021

Covid-19 : en Australie, « urgence nationale » autour de Sydney »