Quarantine Free Travel With New South Wales Paused

May 6, 2021

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has announced his intention to pause Quarantine Free Travel between New Zealand and New South Wales while the source of infection of the two cases announced in Sydney in the last two days is investigated.

Whole genome sequencing has linked the case yesterday to a recent returnee who arrived in Australia from the United States. A household contact of yesterday’s case has today returned a positive test.

An epidemiological link has yet to be determined between yesterday’s case and the recent returnee.

While the new case announced today is not unexpected as a household contact of yesterday’s case, officials have assessed that with several outstanding unknowns in the situation in Sydney it is safest to pause the QFT from 11.59pm today. This will be under constant review.

Information about locations of interest visited by the cases is available on the New South Wales health website: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/case-locations-and-alerts.aspx

Anyone who is now in New Zealand who was at one of the locations of interest in Sydney at the relevant time should isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on getting tested for COVID-19.

Anyone who is in Australia who has been at one of the locations of interest is subject to the requirements of the NSW Government and should not travel to New Zealand.

NSW has put in place its own restrictions, details of which are available at https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/news-and-media

The Government is aware this will cause some disruption to travellers but strongly believes a cautious approach is the best course of action while investigations continue.

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