The pause for quarantine-free travel with Victoria is being lifted at 11.59pm tomorrow, the Ministry of Health announced this evening.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
The travel bubble was paused on 25 May and has been extended several times while Victoria copes with a cluster of community Covid-19 cases that included some linked to the highly infectious Delta variant.
Some green-zone flights from Melbourne to New Zealand began on 8 June to allow stranded New Zealanders to return home.
Travel was limited to New Zealand citizens, Australian citizens normally resident in New Zealand, people with humanitarian exemptions and critical workers who are stranded in Victoria.
Once quarantine-free flights resume, travellers will no longer be required to have a pre-departure test.
However, all travellers are encouraged to continue monitoring for symptoms and checking the Victorian Health website for any updated locations of interest, the Ministry said in a statement.
Those in New Zealand who have recently been in Victoria, New South Wales or Queensland are advised to get tested if they develop symptoms.
Anyone in New Zealand who has been at any of the current locations of interest or newly identified locations of interest in Victoria, New South Wales or Queensland in the last 14 days at the specified times should continue to self-isolate and contact Healthline for advice on testing.
In the past week there have been no new cases in Victoria with the Delta variant of concern.
Victorian health officials have determined there is unlikely to be widespread community transmission. They continue to carry out about 15,000 tests a day and there has been no unexplained Covid-19 detected in wastewater samples.
