New Zealand's travel pause with Victoria has been extended by six days. Photo / 123rf
New Zealand's travel pause with Victoria has been extended by six days. Photo / 123rf
The director-general of health is confident Kiwis returning to New Zealand from Covid-hit Melbourne will not pose a threat of bringing the infection here.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield told RNZ he was confident those eyeing up first flights out of Melbourne next Wednesday did not pose a health risk to the community.
He said safeguards were being implemented, including the need for pre-departure testing, as an assurance the infection which put Victoria into a "circuit breaker lockdown" eight days ago would be held at bay.
While authorities had considered the need for returning residents and citizens to self-isolate when they were back in New Zealand, because they had already spent a fortnight in self isolation in lockdown, the low number of new infections, and a negative pre-departure test, all provided a "high level of reassurance" the risk was very low.
News that Kiwis stuck in Melbourne will be able to fly home in less than a week has come as a relief to New Zealanders stranded in the locked-down Australian city.
Wellington resident Lizz Santos was only meant to be in Melbourne for five days for a client meeting, but as her return flight was cancelled and the city was plunged into its fourth lockdown, she found herself unable to get home.
Auckland couple Paris Bailey and Alessandra Tusa flew to Melbourne on a five-day surprise trip organised by friends to celebrate Tusa's 21st birthday.
Their friends were set to perform a drag show as part of the celebrations, but the city's growing community Covid-19 case numbers cancelled the plans and severed their quarantine-free path home.
Alessandra Tusa and Paris Bailey flew to Melbourne on a surprise trip to celebrate Tusa's 21st birthday. Photo / Supplied
Victoria went into what authorities called a "circuit breaker" lockdown last week and New Zealand responded to the growing Covid-19 numbers by putting the Victoria travel bubble on pause.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced yesterday the pause would be extended by six days, as case numbers in Victoria exceeded 60.
But New Zealand citizens and permanent residents - including Australian citizens normally resident in New Zealand - people with humanitarian exemptions and critical workers who are stranded in Victoria will be able to fly to New Zealand from June 9.
They would need to have a negative pre-departure Covid-19 test less than 72 hours before departure but would not need to isolate or have a test after landing here.
Santos - owner of a Wellington event business - was upbeat about the situation, telling the Herald from her friend's house in Preston that she flew over fully accepting the risks of the transtasman traffic light system.
"There is nothing I can do about this. I can't change what's happened. I knew the risks. I'm pretty laid back about it really, I'm a little bit bored, I won't lie."
Santos said there could have been better communication from the New Zealand Government and more publicly available guidance for what a travel pause meant for those stuck on the other side of the Tasman.
Lizz Santos is one of many Kiwis stuck in Melbourne after the New Zealand-Victoria travel bubble was paused. Photo / Supplied
"[I'm] relieved [by today's news] because I think the hardest thing about this whole process is, obviously we're up to date with Victoria information and the Covid information that has been given here from Australia, but New Zealand's been incredibly quiet."
Bailey said she was excited to hear she and partner Tusa would be able to travel home quarantine-free.
"We're still doing fine - we're with friends so it's not so bad, but obviously it was great to hear that we can come home and get out of lockdown.
"It's been a little up and down, [with] not knowing when we would be able to come home quarantine free and whether our finances would last us until then. So to hear this news this afternoon was relieving - just because now we know what's going on."
