Australia has suspended quarantine-free travel with neighbouring New Zealand after three new community cases of Covid-19 were detected in Auckland over the weekend.
New Zealand said it was locking down its largest city after new cases emerged in the country, which has been credited with virtually eliminating the virus within its borders, according to Reuters.
Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, convened an urgent meeting and it was decided that all flights originating in New Zealand would be classified as “Red Zone” flights for an initial period of 72 hours from Monday.
“As a result of this, all people arriving on such flights originating within this three-day period will need to go into 14 days of supervised hotel quarantine,” Australia’s Department of Health said on its website.
