New Zealand suspends entry of travellers from India amid Covid-19 surge
This measure will be in place from 4 pm on 11 April and stay until 28 April, PM Jacinda Ardern announced during a briefing in Auckland
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, in view of an increasing number of positive Covid-19 cases arriving from the country.
"We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India," news agency Reuters quoted PM Jacinda Ardern as saying during a news conference in Auckland.
The suspension will be in place from 4 pm on 11 April and stay until 28 April.
"I want to emphasize that while arrivals of Covid from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment...," Ardern added.
The country is reviewing its border settings as more people with infections arrived in New Zealand recently, majority being from India.
During this time, the New Zealand government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.
The move comes after New Zealand reported 23 new positive Covid-19 cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.
New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.
Meanwhile, India on Wednesday registered 1,15,736 new Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours, its biggest rise so far.
With the surge, the total count of cases in India has reached 1,28,01,785.
The country also reported 630 Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, while the active number of cases stands at 8,43,473, the Union Health Ministry has said.
As many as 59,856 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. The cumulative death count has mounted to 1,66,177.
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