Australia Resumes Travel Bubble with New Zealand

Travellers arriving in Australia from New Zealand will no longer be required to quarantine when they touch down in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria from Friday.

The New Zealand city of Auckland successfully contained a small cluster of COVID-19 cases following a week-long lockdown, opening the door for a one-way travel bubble between the countries.

Australians are still unable to travel to New Zealand under a government ban on all overseas travel from Australia, excluding exempted cases.

Those arriving in Australia from Auckland will not need to quarantine for two weeks as is the case for all other international arrivals, however, are required to get tested when they arrive in Australia and self isolate until they receive a negative result.

Those arriving from other parts of New Zealand are not required to quarantine or self isolate.

"New Zealand is considered to present a low risk of COVID-19, with no more new cases reported in the recent Auckland cluster since Feb. 28," a NSW government statement said.

"A case in an air crew member was reported by New Zealand authorities on March 7 but this person is thought to be of low risk to the Auckland community."

Travellers heading to other Australian states are able to travel onwards from NSW and Victoria depending on domestic border restrictions.

As of Friday, NSW has gone over 50 days without a local COVID-19 transmission, while Victoria marked two weeks without a community transmission.