Coronavirus: Australia reopens New Zealand travel bubble; city of Perth enters snap lockdown

New Zealanders are the only international arrivals into Australia who do not require 14 days in hotel quarantine

Elsewhere, the Philippines’ welcomed a group of bishops’ offer to help allay vaccine fears and Perth goes into lockdown

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A Qantas Boeing 747 airliner pictured taking off from Sydney airport. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:55pm, 31 Jan 2021Updated: 11:08pm, 31 Jan 2021

Australia reopened its “travel bubble” with New Zealand on Sunday after the neighbouring country reported no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, but added new screening measures as it marked its longest infection-free run since the outbreak began.

The decision marks the resumption of the only international arrivals into Australia who do not require 14 days in hotel quarantine.

Australia had paused quarantine exemptions for trans-Tasman arrivals six days earlier after New Zealand reported its first new case in months.

Australia’s Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd pictured at a Parliament House in Canberra earlier this month. Photo AAP via DPA

Arrivals from New Zealand “are now judged to be sufficiently low risk, given New Zealand’s strong public health response to Covid-19”, acting Australian Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told reporters.

However, Australia would require screening of travellers from New Zealand before and after flights for the next 10 days, Kidd added, “given there is still a small risk of further associated cases being detected and with an abundance of caution”.

The resumption came as Australia marked two weeks without a locally acquired case of the virus, which has infected 29,000 in the country and killed 909.