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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that the country is expected to cancel Delta Air Lines, but travel restrictions to Australia have been extended to November.
New Zealand has suspended quarantine-free travel with Australia for another eight weeks, and the so-called travel bubble between the two countries has continued as the two countries deal with the new outbreak of the COVID-19 virus Delta variant.
On July 23, a few weeks after the launch of quarantine-free travel, the travel was suspended due to the spread of the infectious delta virus in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The suspension was originally scheduled to end on September 24.
New Zealand’s virus-free operation came to an end soon, as a Delta variant imported from Australia caused an outbreak in its largest city, Auckland, which resulted in a nationwide lockdown last month.
Auckland remains closed, while the rest of the country has reopened.
“We have made great progress in containing the current epidemic and are working to ease restrictions next week. Reopening quarantine-free travel with Australia at this point may put these gains at risk,” COVID-19 Response Minister Chris · Hipkins (Chris Hipkins) said in a statement.
Shipkins said the government will review its decision in mid-to-late November.
New Zealand only reported 11 new COVID-19 cases on Friday because it hopes to control the outbreak that has caused 1,007 infections so far.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that the country is about to eliminate the delta.
The country plans to reopen the border in phases early next year.
Ardern’s severe blockade and the closure of international borders have helped control COVID-19, but the government has been criticized for the slow introduction of the vaccine, which has exposed most of the population to the delta epidemic.
With the country buying additional vaccine doses from Spain and Denmark, the vaccine campaign has now been strengthened.
Australia has also been ramping up immunization efforts, and the government has pledged to provide more freedom to vaccinated citizens, even though the country’s second largest state reported the second highest rate of new COVID-19 infections this year.
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