Thread by @covid19nz

COVID-19 update

Today the Government has announced we are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India. This will take effect from 4pm on 11 April and remain in place until 28 April.

While New Zealand continues to enjoy effective elimination of COVID with no community transmission, the same is not true of the rest of the world.

The World Health Organisation global reporting shows that in just the last month cases of the virus have been on the rise again internationally after falling steadily over January and February, with surges in cases particularly in Brazil and India.

We are starting to see this global trend mirrored locally, in those arriving in New Zealand. Through late January until recently our 7-day average of cases in MIQ had been sitting roughly at 2-3.

This was a manageable level of cases that has not placed a significant strain on our system and has presented a low level of risk of wider transfer.

Over recent weeks the Government has been reviewing our border settings to better understand what we can do to limit the number of cases arriving on our shores.

Whilst the high number of arrivals with COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally.

During this temporary suspension, the Government will investigate options to better manage risk.

While we have put in place previous travel bans on countries, we have never previously suspended travel to New Zealand citizens and residents.

This is not a permanent arrangement, but rather a temporary suspension until we are able to better manage the current situation and see if there are ways to reduce the risk that travellers are clearly facing.