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New Zealand Pauses 'Travel Bubble' With Australia Amid Coronavirus Outbreak In Sydney
May 6, 20218:22 AM ET
Less than three weeks after launching a quarantine-free "travel bubble" between New Zealand and Australia, officials in New Zealand's capital Wellington announced Thursday that flights from Sydney would be temporarily suspended after new coronavirus cases were detected there.
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An overseas traveler from the U.S. who was quarantined at a hotel in central Sydney last month was found to be infected with the B.1.617 coronavirus variant. Subsequently, an Australian couple with no known links to the man or the hotel also tested positive for the virus, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hipkins on Thursday said that there didn't appear to be any "obvious link" between the Australian cases. He characterized the pause in the travel bubble as precautionary and noted that the ability to turn on and turn off quarantine-free travel between the two countries had been built into the system when it was launched last month.
May 6, 20218:22 AM ET
Less than three weeks after launching a quarantine-free "travel bubble" between New Zealand and Australia, officials in New Zealand's capital Wellington announced Thursday that flights from Sydney would be temporarily suspended after new coronavirus cases were detected there.
snip
An overseas traveler from the U.S. who was quarantined at a hotel in central Sydney last month was found to be infected with the B.1.617 coronavirus variant. Subsequently, an Australian couple with no known links to the man or the hotel also tested positive for the virus, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hipkins on Thursday said that there didn't appear to be any "obvious link" between the Australian cases. He characterized the pause in the travel bubble as precautionary and noted that the ability to turn on and turn off quarantine-free travel between the two countries had been built into the system when it was launched last month.