New Zealand airport worker tests COVID positive after travel bubble opens with Australia

A New Zealand airport worker has tested positive for COVID-19, just one day after the country opened its quarantine free travel bubble with Australia. According to a report by the Guardian, the border worker was employed at Auckland airport and was fully vaccinated against the virus. Speaking to media reporters in the aftermath, the country’s PM Jacinda Ardern said that the worker cleaned planes coming in from “red zone”, or high-risk countries, and “all signs point” to this case having no connection to new Australian arrivals.

Ardern, who is currently serving her second Prime ministerial term, has received global accolades for successfully controlling the coronavirus infection in her country. Since the outbreak, New Zealand has reported 2,597 cases. On the other hand, Australia has registered 29,559 infected cases, as per the latest tally by Johns Hopkins University.  Meanwhile, Australian health minister Greg Hunt said that the case would not affect the newly minted travel bubble. Echoing his stance, he told reporters that Australia was dealing with the “inevitable outbreak” with “highly developed containment systems.”

Red and Green airports 

At Present, all airports in New Zealand are divided into red and green. While the red ones are used by international travellers, the green ones are solely used by domestic passengers and those from Australia, Niue and Cook Islands. Travellers in the latter case are exempted from mandatory quarantine. While detection of coronavirus in fully immunized worker has raised scepticism about the vaccine, Ardern said that these kinds of cases are expected at the border. “It is by no means a leaky border,” she said if someone who cleans a plane that carries people infected with Covid tests positive. Ardern said these kinds of cases had been anticipated by both the Australian and New Zealand governments when they announced the bubble rules.

New Zealand has maintained some of the toughest travel guidelines in the world since March 2020. All arrivals, including New Zealand citizens, must undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine and test negative for COVID-19 at the end of this period before entering the community. In the backdrop of a second wave, the kiwi nation banned travellers from India earlier this month. The suspension of air services from India to New Zealand started on  April 11 and would be in place till April 28, Ardern had said in a news conference. The government in New Zealand meanwhile will hold a virtual discussion on risk management and measures that can be taken to resume the air travel between the two countries.

Image Credits: AP