COVID-19: New Zealand suspends entry for travellers from India

On Thursday, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern announced a temporary ban on travellers from India starting April 11 due to the massive increase in Coronavirus cases, news agency Reuters reported.

"I want to emphasize that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment...," Jacinda Ardern was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The suspension of entry for all travellers, including New Zealand’s own citizens, begins from 4 pm local time on April 11 & will be in place until April 28, the New Zealand PM was quoted as saying by the agency. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel, she added.

The temporary ban comes at a time when India has been reporting over 100,000 cases of COVID-19 daily for the past 3 days. The country’s total case tally has gone up to 12.8 million, according to the Union ministry of health & family welfare.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, & has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days, Reuters reported, adding that the country has been reviewing its border settings as more people with infections came recently, majority from India. New Zealand logged 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.

Jacinda Ardern said the rolling average of positive cases has witnessed a steady rise & it hit seven cases on Wednesday, which is the nation’s highest since Oct last year. The country also reported one new locally infected case in a worker who was employed at a coronavirus managed isolation facility on Thursday. The 24-year-old was not vaccinated against the viral disease yet.

Following the massive spike in cases in India, several states have imposed restrictions on the travelling & have made it compulsory for passengers to carry a negative Covid-19 report while crossing borders. The government has speeded up the process of vaccination across the country to immunise more & more people against the virus. At present, everyone aged 45 years or above is eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine. 

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