With Victoria recording zero new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 today, New Zealand has made the call to lift its travel bubble pause with the state from next Wednesday.
As such, from 11.59pm on Tuesday 22 June, the requirement for those from Victoria to complete two weeks of quarantine on arrival in NZ will be removed.
"It has been determined that the risk to public health in New Zealand continues to decrease and, at this time, public health officials consider it unlikely there is further widespread community transmission in the state," says the New Zealand Government.
"However, in line with our precautionary approach we consider this short extension to be prudent.
"New Zealand health officials will keep a close watch on developments in the state but at this point their advice is that we would expect to be in a position to lift the pause at the end of the five-day extension. This will be reviewed if the situation changes."
Everyone who is eligible can already return on "green flights", meaning they are not required to isolate when they arrive home. However, they must provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure.
Globally the COVID-19 situation is certainly different, with Brazil reporting more than 80,000 new infections and India recording 62,226 new cases yesterday.
The United States has recently surpassed more than 600,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 the most of any country in the world.
In comparison, Australia has only recorded 910 deaths from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Updated at 10.06am AEST on 17 June 2021.
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