New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she has expressed her “disappointment” to Prime Minister Scott Morrison after Australia suspended its travel bubble with New Zealand over coronavirus concerns.
Speaking of the discussion with Prime Minister Morrison, Ms Ardern said, “I conveyed the confidence that we have in our systems”.
She said she also spoke of the acknowledgement that, “if we are to enter into a trans-Tasman bubble, we will need to be able to give people confidence that we won’t see closures at the borders that happen with very short notice over incidences that we believe can be well managed domestically”.
The suspension of the travel bubble came after a woman has tested positive to a highly infectious variant of the disease after completing hotel quarantine in Auckland.
Travel between the two countries has been paused for 72 hours – to prevent the potential spread of the virus.
Anyone who has travelled to Australia from New Zealand from January 14 must seek testing – and isolate – until a negative result is returned.
