Covid-19: Trans-Tasman bubble pause with NSW not needed, Australian expert
(Photo / NZ Herald)
It is time to fire back up the transtasman bubble with New South Wales, according to an infectious disease specialist who says he would not have shut it down in the first place.
The New Zealand Government paused quarantine-free travel with the state until midnight tonight, pending more information after a Sydney man in his 50s and his wife tested positive for Covid-19 in the community.
Health officials are due to make an announcement about the travel freeze later today.
Genome testing showed the Sydney case was a similar strain to a person who was in quarantine after returning to Australia via the US, but authorities believe there could be other cases in the chain of infection.
He said the fact more cases may arise is why it s been important that we pause the bubble . The large number of people who have come in, in the last few days, would put a strain on our system in terms of having to contact those people and give them good information.
Between 5000 and 6000 people have returned from New South Wales since the cases were identified.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield told The AM Show on Friday it s unlikely any returning New Zealanders will have been in contact with the positive cases, but caution is being exercised regardless, with all returnees being chased up.
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However, Professor Peter Collignon from Australian National University said the risk of transmission between New South Wales and New Zealand was very low. With a population of about 5 million, there can t be that many people out in the community at the moment that have got it. Let s say worst case scenario, I d assume there s four or five. It still means any one individual has less than a one in a million chance of having the virus at this point of time, he said. There must be a very low risk of anybody being in Sydney going back to New Zealand or anywhere else, of actually carrying the virus . to put this in perspective, there s been people coming from overseas often, they ve had a one or two percent chance of carrying the virus if they come back from the US or Europe for instance and slightly higher at the moment from India.