New Zealand's PM Jacinda Ardern suspends arrivals from India amid rise in Covid-19 cases

With India recording over a lakh Covid positive cases each in the past four days, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, on Thursday has temporarily suspended entry for travelers from India. She announced that people from India, including citizens of New Zealand, are barred from traveling to the country. 

Suspension of flights from India from April 11-April 28

The suspension of air services from India to New Zealand will be in effect from 16:00 hours on April 11 and will be in place till April 28, Ardern 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.

At least 17 Indians in NZ recently tested positive for Covid-19

New Zealand's Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield recently confirmed that a border worker had contracted Covid-19. He further announced that there are 23 new coronavirus positives in managed isolation, of which 17 had arrived from India. Referring to the air travel restriction, Ardern asserted "We have looked into whether we have issues with the accuracy of pre-departure tests - that has not demonstrated that is where the problem lies, so this suspension gives us a bit of time to look at the issue more generally."

Why New Zealand is taking stringent measures to bar entry for travelers from India?

While New Zealand is at least twelve times geographically smaller than India, stringent measures are in place in the island nation to contain the spread. New Zealand until Thursday recorded 2,555 cases while 2,434 people have recovered and 26 people succumbed to coronavirus. New Zealand is spread across 268,838 sq km, which is way smaller than India that is spread across a massive land of 3,287,263 sq km. Given that surge in cases in a smaller region or country can lead to further disaster, Ardern told an agency "Cases of the virus have been on the rise internationally. With surges particularly in Brazil and India... we are starting to see this global trend mirrored here. We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travelers from India."

New Zealand has purchase agreements of four different vaccines, enough for its 5mn citizens

New Zealand has purchase agreements for 30.3 million doses of four different Coronavirus vaccines— Pfizer, Novavax, AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Janssen/ Jhonson & Jhonson. With a population of over 5 million, New Zealand till the end of February has administered more than 85,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine which is a two-dose regimen— wherein at least 67,400 people have got the first doses and nearly 18,000 people have received the second dose, the spokesperson for New Zealand Ministry of Health said.

India meanwhile has 12,926,061 cases until Thursday while 11,848,905 have recovered and until the third week of March, around 3.06 crore people got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine administered.