FLIGHTS SUSPENDED: Travel bubble paused with Australia’s most populous state

New Zealand has put quarantine free travel with Australia’s most populous state on hold.

This comes as the Australian state of New South Wales puts in covid-19 restrictions for greater Sydney as the state records another coronavirus case today.

A man in his 50s from Sydney’s eastern suburbs – as well as his wife – have tested positive for COVID-19.

Genomic sequencing has linked the man to a returned traveller from the US.

It’s unclear how transmission occurred. Health authorities are trying to track down the “missing link” between the pair.

New Zealand’s coronavirus response minister says the decision was weighed up carefully.

The travel bubble between New South Wales and New Zealand will be paused while the latest cases in the state are investigated.

“I have made the decision to pause flight from New South Wales for a period of 48 hours,” New Zealand’s coronavirus response minister Chris Hipkins says.

“We will keep that under constant review during that time, obviously to more information during that time they gives us more confidence we get is that restriction earlier, we reserve the ability to do that, if over the period of time further information come to like them is ready to extend that and we have the ability to do that as well.”

“I do acknowledge that this is going to cause disruption for people who were travelling in the next 48 hours from New South Wales to New Zealand,” he says.

People who have arrived in NZ from NSW will be contacted and tested.

The NZ health authorities will contact 6000 people via email.

It will come into effect at 11:59pm tonight.