More moves to tighten the New Zealand’s borders may be needed on top of the decision to delay the start of the self-isolation scheme for Australian travellers, a professor of public health says.

Today, the government announced cabinet has decided to delay the self-isolation scheme.

Instead of travellers being allowed to self-isolate from January 17 the change will take effect from the end of February.

• READ MORE:  28 new community cases today, returnee who didn’t complete isolation left with child
• Other NZ covid outbreak reports

For those who had booked to come home to New Zealand from Australia from January 17, the government would work with airlines to ensure some MIQ space was available, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a media update.

Air New Zealand has already cancelled about 120 flights, mostly from across the Tasman, as a result of the changes.

The rapid spread worldwide of the omicron variant of covid-19 is the main reason for the policy rethink.

It is among changes announced today that include a vaccine rollout for five to 11 year olds from January and a reduction in the time to wait for booster shots — from six months to four months.

Public health experts welcome change
The changes are being welcomed by public health experts, with Professor Nick Wilson from Otago University saying that the delay in self-isolation was the most important.

He said temporarily turning down the tap on international travellers from countries with the worst omicron outbreaks (at least for two to three months) may also be needed.

New South Wales officials over the weekend noted omicron was now likely the dominant strain in the state’s third outbreak, in which today alone it recorded more than 3000 cases.

But Professor Wilson said the government may also need to:

• insist on rapid antigen tests at the airport for international travellers coming into Aotearoa;
• make more improvements to MIQ facilities in terms of ventilation and avoiding shared spaces such as exercise areas; and
• re-design the alert level system so that it can rapidly eliminate any outbreaks of the omicron variant that arise in the community.

“While there is still a lot of uncertainty around the omicron variant, especially the risk of severe disease, it is wise to try to keep it out of NZ as long as possible and until more is known about this variant,” Professor Wilson said.

No clear evidence of lower severity
Dr Matthew Hobbs, a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Canterbury, said he was concerned that a recent study from Imperial College London showed no clear evidence that omicron had lower severity than delta.

“Though it will be disappointing for many, through reviewing and postponing current border reopening plans, New Zealand has bought itself some much needed time while it works out how much of a problem omicron could be — like the last time we closed the Trans-Tasman bubble,” he said.

“It also provides us with a few more crucial months to get the booster shots up and roll out the paediatric vaccines.”

Dr Hobbs suggested the vaccination requirement for arrivals could be raised to three doses to reduce the risk of Omicron coming to New Zealand.

“More broadly, we also need to shift our domestic focus to a global perspective. The root of this issue is that the world isn’t doing enough to stop the spread of covid-19,” Dr Hobbs said.

“Wealthy countries around the world continue to hoard vaccines. This ultimately gives the virus more opportunities to replicate and mutate.

“Omicron should act as the wake-up call to ensure worldwide equitable vaccine delivery before even more concerning variants emerge.”

Omicron would ‘reach NZ quickly from Australia’
Professor Michael Plank, from Te Pūnaha Matatini and the University of Canterbury, said the rapidly growing omicron outbreak in New South Wales and its spread to other Australian states meant it would almost certainly get into the community in New Zealand within weeks if the country went ahead with border reopening plans in January.

“Delaying reopening plans to the end of February gives us a chance to keep omicron out until the majority of adults have received their third dose of the vaccine,” he said.

“Increasing the MIQ stay to 10 days and shortening the pre-departure test period from 72 to 48 hours are sensible ways to reduce the risk of the highly transmissible Omicron variant leaking out of MIQ. Adding a requirement for a rapid test on the day of the departure would be a useful extra measure.

“Hopefully these measures will keep omicron contained at the border. But if omicron does find its way into the community, the government has said it intends to use the red level of the traffic light system to try and control its spread.

“It’s unlikely this would be sufficient to prevent rapid spread of the variant if community transmission became established.

“Rolling out booster doses as quickly as possible is therefore essential to minimising the risk that omicron overwhelms our healthcare system.”

Hipkins also noted in the announcement today that the variant would spread quickly if it was in the community, and that public health advice suggested that soon every case coming into our border will be the omicron variant.

28 new covid-19 community cases
The Ministry of Health reported today there are 28 new cases of covid-19 in the community, and no new omicron cases in Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ).

In a statement, the ministry said of the new cases, 21 were in Auckland, five in Bay of Plenty, and two in Taranaki.

There are 57 cases in hospital, 10 in North Shore, 25 in Auckland, 19 in Middlemore, one in Northland, and two in Waikato. Seven cases are in ICU or HDU (one in North Shore; two in Auckland; three in Middlemore, one in Northland).

The ministry has also revealed that a recent returnee who left Middlemore Hospital without discharge, after being transferred from MIQ, also took their young child with them.

The child was transferred in the ambulance with the parent because it meant they could not be left unattended in managed isolation due to their age.

Police are currently investigating the incident which happened early on Monday morning.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. The public health comments in this report were put together by the Science Media Centre. Professor Michael Plank is partly funded by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for research on mathematical modelling of covid-19.

New Zealand’s most restrictive border controls will be eased early next year, the government announced today.

Most fully-vaccinated travellers into New Zealand would not be required to go through managed isolation from early next year, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

A seven-day self-isolation requirement will take the place of MIQ.

• READ MORE: Other NZ covid lockdown reports

Hipkins revealed fully-vaccinated New Zealanders would be able to travel from Australia without having to quarantine from 11.59pm on 16 January, and from 11.59pm on 13 February that would extend to fully-vaccinated New Zealanders from all countries.

From April 30, all fully-vaccinated foreigner travellers would also be able to come to this country without having to quarantine, though proof of vaccination would be required.

All travellers not required to go into MIQ would still require:

• a negative pre-departure test proof of being fully vaccinated;
• a passenger declaration about travel history, a day 0/1 test on arrival;
• a requirement to self-isolate for seven days, and
• a final negative test before entering the community.

Government ‘still cautious’
Hipkins said: “It’s very encouraging that we as a country are now in a position to move towards greater normality. I do want to emphasise though that travel in 2022 won’t necessarily be exactly the same as it was in pre-2020 travel.”

The government defended its decision not to open the trans-Tasman bubble before Christmas.

Hipkins said the government needed to remain cautious about how much risk the country was exposed to in a short period of time.

He said loosening restrictions domestically and at the border need to be staggered.

215 new covid-19 cases
There were 215 new community cases of covid-19 today — 181 in Auckland, 18 in Waikato, three in Northland and 12 in the Bay of Plenty.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield this afternoon said 87 people were being treated in hospital, eight people of those in intensive care.

The Ministry of Health said 118 of today’s 215 new cases were yet to be linked.

There were 18,880 vaccine doses given yesterday — 6496 first doses and 12,384 second doses, meaning 92 percent of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 84 percent are now fully vaccinated.

Traffic-light system legislation
Legislation setting up the traffic light system — including mandating vaccinations for some workforces — has been pushed through Parliament in less than 24 hours.

Passed under urgency, the bill was opposed by the opposition National, Act and Te Paati Māori parties.

National called it secretive, divisive and unduly rushed. Act said the government had plenty of time to move it through the regular process involving greater scrutiny, and the Māori Party called it a “cruel law change” that would victimise vulnerable communities.

MPs also rejected a change to the traffic light system, which would have seen places of worship and funerals exempt from vaccine certificate requirements.

National’s Simeon Brown had put forward a proposed change to the bill.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The tourism and hospitality sectors are disappointed but understanding of the New Zealand decision to suspend the travel bubble.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the decision yesterday afternoon, and said the suspension in quarantine-free travel would go on for at least eight weeks.

It comes at a particularly bad time for the ski sector, which was looking forward to welcoming Australians over the next couple of weeks.

• READ MORE: NZ government suspends quarantine-free travel with Australia for at least eight weeks

Ski-based accommodation provider, Ski Time, at the foot of Mount Hutt ski field, is expecting to lose more than half of its bookings over the next two months due to the travel bubble suspension.

The manager, Pete Wood, said as a result, they may have to make some redundancies.

“It is going to be tough, we’ll probably have to make some tough decisions over the next couple of weeks depending on how business travels along.

“We certainly don’t want to lose any staff – we’ve got a great team here at the moment and they’ve all pitched in to survive the last 18 months together, and it would be a shame to lose a few of them.”

60 percent Australian
He said 60 percent of all the business’s August bookings were by Australians and they would now all be cancelled.

He hoped New Zealanders would be heading to the South Island for a ski holiday this August, to make up for the lack of Australians.

“We had a pretty chocka-block August coming up, but of course with these cancellations, there’s going to be quite a few gaps here, which makes way for Kiwis to start travelling again, because they can’t go to Australia.”

Ski Time is not the only business to be losing out: one Queenstown operator said cancellations have been coming in thick and fast since the suspension of the trans-Tasman travel bubble.

Mark Quickfall owns Totally Tourism, and like many operators in the south, he said they were gearing up for a big winter season with visitors from Australia.

He said many businesses and employees will be feeling anxious after yesterday’s announcement, especially if more staff have been brought in in anticipation of higher visitor numbers.

“We’re only one leak from an outbreak. If you have a choice of opening up and ending up with a lockdown, or staying protected, I think we know what the answer is there.

“But it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Support ruled out
The government has ruled out any specific support for tourism businesses hit by the suspension.

A financial cost to operators is coming though.

“There’s been a huge number of cancellations just rushing in,” Quickfall said. “Like everyone down here, we had strong bookings out of Australia, for our heli-ski businesses, helicopter operations, down at Milford.

“That’s all just disappeared overnight.”

The tourism industry body said it hopes the suspension of the trans-Tasman bubble will not go on any longer than eight weeks.

Industry pins hopes on September holidays
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said while it is disappointing, it is the right decision to make.

He said operators would be looking forward to the next Australian school holidays, which begin in mid-September. If the bubble is up and running then, Roberts expects large numbers of visitors will be booking trips again.

“If the bubble’s up and running again by September, then we can expect good numbers of Australian visitors coming over here for those school holidays in September.

“That’s something we can look forward to in the end of what is hopefully only an eight-week suspension.”

Roberts hopes domestic tourists will fill some of the gap in the meantime, and that the financial hit will not be too bad.

“There are relatively few Australian visitors currently in New Zealand.

“Those Australians who were planning to come to New Zealand in the next eight weeks which would have included some skiing holidays will now have to cancel those plans and that’s reasonably unfortunate.

New Zealanders may holiday at home
“But at the same time, New Zealanders won’t be heading off to Australia, and some of those New Zealanders might choose to holiday at home instead.”

Meanwhile, the hospitality industry said the government needed to rethink its decision not to offer support to businesses hit by the suspension of the trans-Tasman bubble.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White said while it was the right decision, businesses would suffer.

She said the hospitality and tourism sectors have borne the brunt of the economic impact of the lockdowns and border restrictions.

“Hospitality and tourism are the lost leaders when it comes to the cost of balancing the health risk. I think this is the time – we really need to have that robust conversation with the government.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

It is looking increasingly likely that the much discussed trans-Tasman bubble is finally on the way.

Cabinet has agreed in principle to quarantine-free travel in the first quarter of 2021.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said officials were working on contingency plans in the event of an outbreak.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: “Welcome to covid normal, that’s the reality anywhere you live in the world” – University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely (Duration 4m29s)

The decision is dependent on Australia’s agreement and no major change in circumstances in either country.

Australian federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said his government was keen on the idea.

“We’re ready to implement from our side as soon as New Zealand’s ready. It’s the first step on a return to international normality.”

University of Melbourne epidemiologist specialising in public health professor Tony Blakely told Morning Report that Australia was working on a potential “hot-spot” definition for the different states, but could not reach a conclusion and it had fallen by the wayside now.

National-level approach
New Zealand would be looking for a national-level approach, he said.

If that did not happen, then New Zealand would have to look at which states and territories to be in a bubble with “if there’s another resurgence somewhere”.

It would impact on advance bookings, he said, but people might start to book about two weeks prior to travel.

“Welcome to covid normal, that’s the reality anywhere you live in the world, particularly for a bigger country like Australia where there’s just more people, there’s more governments and where there will be occasional incursions and outbreaks – that will happen, it’s the reality.”

He said it was about moving with the times and stated the benefits of a bubble for New Zealand.

“The three benefits you get out of this are reunification of family and friends, two is increasing your tourism, and three is business opportunities.”

He said the major risk for both countries was for covid coming from the Northern Hemisphere – from countries like UK, Spain, and US.

“There is a risk that the virus will pop into New Zealand from somebody coming from Australia but it is much less than … somebody coming from the UK for example.”

NZ epidemiologist happy with rules
University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told First Up most states in Australia were free of community transmission for longer periods than New Zealand.

He said Australia was taking a similar “elimination” approach and the Pacific Islands had gone a step further and “excluded” the virus completely since the start of the year.

“Now is the time to be looking at quarantine-free travel with Australia and some Pacific Islands.”

Baker said pushing out the travel bubble to 2021 was sensible because there was a higher risk of importation as the pandemic was “getting more intense in the Northern Hemisphere” and would continue for a few more months till the vaccines were available.

And it would be harder to manage an outbreak over the summer here, he said.

If there was an outbreak on either side of the border when the bubble was in operation, Baker said it would need to be instantly closed, only allowing those coming through MIQ.

“The Western world has made a horrible mess of managing this pandemic right from the beginning, and so now they’re really stuck with this difficult situation where they have to go in and out of lockdown, now the only thing for them would be the roll-out of very effective vaccines.”

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Seventeen passengers from New Zealand who travelled to Sydney under the trans-Tasman bubble arrangements have been caught entering Melbourne, reports the ABC.

The ABC understands the passengers flew to Sydney and got a connecting to flight to Melbourne.

Melbourne is currently not accepting international travellers.

• READ MORE: State borders in Australia complicate trans-Tasman bubble

Initially it was reported that 14 passengers were detained in Melbourne.

But overnight Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) confirmed there were 17 passengers, and that the department “does not have legal authority to detain the travellers on arrival”.

“Victoria has not agreed to a travel bubble arrangement with New Zealand and did not expect to receive international travellers as a result of NSW making that arrangement,” DHHS said in a statement.

“The Victorian government has made it clear to the Commonwealth that we expect NZ passengers who have not undertaken quarantine will not be permitted to board flights in Sydney bound for Melbourne.”

‘Matter for states’
In a statement, Australian Border Force said “domestic border restrictions are a matter for states and territories”.

But the Australian Department of Home Affairs says on its website that “quarantine-free travel from New Zealand will initially be to New South Wales and the Northern Territory only. Other states and territories may be added at a later date.”

A spokesperson from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of media reports, but we have not been approached in relation to this matter.”

Three flights from New Zealand touched down at Sydney Airport earlier on Friday carrying international passengers who, for the first time in seven months, will not need to quarantine upon arrival.

At Sydney Airport there were tears and hugs as loved ones reunited, with many passengers flying one-way.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard described it as a “great day”, but pointed out New Zealanders arriving on Friday would need to prove they are symptom-free and satisfy other health requirements.

There will be a total of 16 flights between the two countries each week, with Jetstar and Qantas joining Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways in advertising the trans-Tasman flights.

No fares beyond Sydney
In a media statement yesterday, Air New Zealand said fares beyond Sydney were not able to be booked via the airline due to Australian state restrictions.

“Passengers planning to travel interstate beyond New South Wales will need to ensure they have checked state and territory travel restrictions and have the appropriate exemptions/approvals to travel as these continue to change,” the statement said.

Announcing the travel bubble arrangements earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said to start with, visitors to Australia could only go to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

McCormack said that was because both jurisdictions impose travel restrictions on places in line with the Commonwealth’s definition of a hotspot – a place with a three-day rolling average of three locally acquired cases per day.

Visitors from New Zealand are only allowed to visit if they haven’t been to a designated hotspot in the last 14 days.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.