An airport worker in New Zealand gave positive results for Covid-19, just one day after the country opened a quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia. The frontier worker is employed at Auckland Airport, the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand.
Speaking to the press, the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said that the worker was completely vaccinated at the beginning of the launch and gave positive results as part of the routine screening. She said the worker cleaned planes coming from the “red zone” or high-risk countries and “all signs indicate” that the case has nothing to do with the new Australian arrivals.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has indicated that this case is unlikely to affect the newly created travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand.
Hunt told reporters that the Australian authorities had “full confidence in the New Zealand system”, which was facing an “inevitable outbreak” with “highly developed isolation systems”.
Airports in New Zealand are separated into red and green areas. The red zones handle all international flights, where passengers are directed to isolation and quarantine. The green areas are used by domestic passengers, as well as those visiting without quarantine travel from Australia, Niue and the Cook Islands.
Ardern said such cases would be expected at the border. “We fully expect that people who are vaccinated will continue to receive Covid-19, it just means they won’t get sick or die.”
“It is by no means a leaky border,” she said, if someone cleaning a plane carrying people infected with Covid tests positive.
Ardern said these types of cases were anticipated by both Australian and New Zealand governments when they announced the bubble rules. “The reason this person was part of our surveillance tests is that they were working in an area considered high risk,” she said. “He works on planes from high-risk countries.”
Both Australia and New Zealand knew that when the borders opened, there would continue to be cases on both sides: “We accept that it will be part of our journey together.”
She said she had not yet spoken to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, but health ministers had been in contact.
She added that in addition to protecting workers from serious illness, there was also evidence that the vaccine “reduces the likelihood of passing it on to others.”
Hunt said he and Australia’s chief medical officers have “great confidence” in New Zealand that “it knows how to deal with it”.
He noted that the worker was “completely vaccinated” and “worked in hot areas, receiving planes from those overseas areas that have higher case loads.”
“But the worker did everything right. The New Zealand system has identified a case and we know that we have an extremely infectious disease, but highly developed isolation systems in both New Zealand and Australia. ”
If the case is an isolated one, it is unlikely to have any effect on the trans-Tasman balloon. When the balloon was announced, the New Zealand government emphasized a “traffic light” system to determine under what circumstances the quarantine-free road could be closed.
In the case of an Australian border with a clear source and if it is unlikely to spread further, the border will remain “green” and the journey will continue. With a case of unknown origin that could be related to the border, the border would be “orange”, and the trip can be interrupted for 72 hours. Where there have been several cases of unknown origin, the balloon may close.
The Ministry of Health said in a press release on Tuesday that “the usual protocol for isolating the case, interviewing them and tracking their contacts and movements is ongoing” and more information will be provided later that afternoon. .
New Zealand officials have previously warned “pay attention to the leaflet” and that travelers should be cautious, as another outbreak in either country could mean the border will close. “We may have scenarios where travel will stop in one direction,” Ardern said earlier this month. “Therefore, it can leave passengers – for a period of time – blocked on both sides of the Tasman.”
Ardern told ABC TV this morning that 1,800 Australians spent Monday in New Zealand.