A new travel advisory by the US Department of State has warned citizens to “exercise increased caution in New Zealand” due to COVID-19.
The advisory comes as New Zealand witnesses a handful of new cases after temporarily going COVID-free in June. Though 2-3 new cases have been reported on a daily basis, there is no resurgence in community transmission—with August 9 to mark 100 days since community transmission last took place.
Of the four travel advisory levels, New Zealand is marked as “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” on the US State Department website.
The notification comes as New Zealand recorded no new cases on Thursday, while the US recorded over 58,000. With a total case count of just over 5 million, the US has over 2.2 million active cases while New Zealand has just 23 active cases out of over 1,500 total cases.
In addition, all 23 cases are in "managed isolation" the New Zealand Herald reported.
New Zealand currently has travel restrictions in place to curb the import of COVID-19 cases. AS per the US embassy website, “only New Zealand citizens or residents with valid travel conditions can travel to New Zealand at this time”.
New Zealand's own travel website advises against travel overseas.
In a bid to separate travellers from countries that have more serious COVID-19 outbreaks, the Auckland Airport will have separate zones as part of the “safe travel bubble” plan. The safe travel zone will be for countries with which New Zealand forms a safe travel bubble, while the self-contained zone will be for travellers from other countries who may need to undergo mandatory quarantine on arrival.
