World News: New Zealand to Reopen borders for Australia – Hundreds of passengers from Australia started arriving in New Zealand after officials re-opened borders officially to enable mandatory quarantine-free travel between both the nations since the pandemic took over the world and restricted travel strictly.
Though most Australian states, have made quarantine less mandatory eventually since the pandemic first stuck, New Zealand has kept quarantine a mandatory requirement to enter the country from outside. As borders re-opened, families separated along both the countries re-united passionately. And, international flights departing to their destinations abroad.
Upon the news of re-opening, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce told Australian Broadcasting Corporation that it is the first in the last 400 days the pandemic took over the world and only now people can now travel freely without mandatory quarantines. He said that Qantas has scheduled 16 return flights from New Zealand which are already full.
Australia’s Qantas has scheduled up to 200 flight trips each week while Air New Zealand has scheduled 30 flights on Monday alone, which flew 97% full. The borders will now facilitate economic recovery and unite many separated families and friends says Australia PM Scott Morrison and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern.
Approximately 1.5 million Australians had visited New Zealand in 2019, being 40% of all visitors and spending NZ$ 2.7 billion ($1.93 billion) in New Zealand. More than a half a million New Zealand born citizens live in Australia, 2% of 26 million Australian people in the country.
Travelers coming into Australia and New Zealand from other countries must go through two-week quarantine period at their own expenses. Both Australia and New Zealand have reported cases comparatively low in contrast to rest of the world. Australia reported over 29,500 cases and 910 deaths while New Zealand reported only 2,200 cases and 26 deaths.
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