Pack your bags: Trans-Tasman travel bubble is BACK for all of Australia with quarantine-free travel to New Zealand
- Quarantine-free travel is back on for Australia and New Zealand after outbreak
- Only those who have been to exposed venues or are close contacts are banned
- Hopes are growing the Trans-Tasman bubble can stay operational for holidays
Tourists and visitors from Victoria will be welcome back in New Zealand from Wednesday after the easing of government restrictions.
Jacinda Ardern’s government halted the trans-Tasman bubble last month in response to Melbourne’s latest Covid-19 outbreak.
With new community case numbers slowing to a trickle, the Ministry of Health has given the green light for travel to resume.
The Health Ministry’s statement says it is encouraged by a lack of new Delta variant cases, large testing numbers and wastewater sampling.
Jacinda Ardern’s government halted the trans-Tasman bubble last month in response to Melbourne’s latest Covid-19 outbreak
New Zealand’s move is perhaps surprising, given its ultra-cautious approach to first removing the quarantine requirement from trans-Tasman travellers.
New South Wales first scrapped quarantine for Kiwis in October last year.
It was not until six months later, in April this year, that New Zealand reciprocated.
In allowing regular travel, it is re-opening to Victoria ahead of all Australian states except for New South Wales.
Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland all have varying degrees of restriction on Victorians heading across their borders.
Some restrictions still apply for would-be trans-Tasman travellers.
People who have visited a location of interest – where a potentially infected person has also travelled – in any state must not travel to New Zealand within 14 days of visiting that site.
The move means the trans-Tasman bubble is fully operational for the first time since May 25.
New South Wales first scrapped quarantine for Kiwis in October last year (pictured, arrivals back into New Zealand in April when the trans-Tasman bubble began)
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