New Zealand clears Australia's travel bubble
It has been four months since the opening of the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand. The idea has allowed more than 200 [...]
It has been four months since the opening of the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand. The idea has enabled more than 200,000 people to travel between the two countries without having to comply with the required quarantine. Now, however, even this possibility is about to be exhausted. And even will not be activated for the next two months.
Increase in cases, stop Australia-New Zealand bubble
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In fact, New Zealand has abruptly stopped the travel bubble between the two countries following a surge in Coronavirus cases in Australia. The latter is experiencing a true "national emergency": due to the Delta variant, in fact, there is a significant increase in positives. The numbers speak for themselves and are the highest since 2021. For this very reason, the travel bubble has been suspended for at least eight weeks and it is not certain that it will be able to reopen. Two months from now, the data will be evaluated and we will try to see if the trend will allow a reopening.
The officiality came from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The bubble was suspended as of 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 23, 2021. Because many people from New Zealand are currently in Australia, Air New Zealand will operate special flights in the coming week to bring people home. To board these flights, customers will need a negative test. Depending on where they come from, passengers will need to be tested or quarantined upon arrival.
A drastic approach and a slow vaccination campaign
Australia's approach to managing Coronavirus has been controversial. Vaccination campaign has been slow And most likely the borders will not be reopened until the end of 2022. Only a few weeks ago, Australia's finance minister had moved reopening in mid-2022. This is not the largest outbreak, the one currently in the territory, but the ability of the Delta variant to spread is putting control and screening of positive cases at risk.
In April, when the Australia-New Zealand bubble was opened, the hope was that the opening would be expanded. A stated goal of the Australian government itself, however, which jarred with the vaccination campaign that was also very slow at the time. With such a drastic approach, the two countries were counting on widespread vaccination before reopening, and projections spoke of late 2021.
The bubble and examples around the world
After the closure of the experimental bubble, the time to return to normalcy could drastically lengthen. A problem also and especially for the industry. For the opening of the bubble, Air New Zealand and Qantas had added a significant amount of flights between the two countries, changing what was initially a very limited schedule.
Before Australia-New Zealand, two other bubbles were opened in the world. A Singapore was created Connect@Chiangi which transforms a hotel facility with meeting rooms, gymnasium and restaurants into a convention center, aiming to make it a kind of middle ground where travelers can be accommodated. On April 1, however, Palau and Taiwan had launched what is being touted as "Asia's first travel bubble."
