• New Zealand welcomes back first cruise ship since Covid-19 pandemic began | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3188608/new-zealand-welcomes-back-first-cruise-ship-covid-19-pandemic

    New Zealand welcomes back first cruise ship since Covid-19 pandemic beganThe Pacific Explorer docked in Auckland with about 2,000 guests and crew as part of a 12-day return trip to Fiji that left from Sydney. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said it is a ‘step closer to resuming business as usual’ after the country lifted all remaining Covid curbs two weeks ago
    Published: 8:59am, 12 Aug, 2022
    New Zealand on Friday welcomed the first cruise ship to return since the coronavirus pandemic began, signalling a long-sought return to normalcy for the nation’s tourism industry.New Zealand closed its borders in early 2020 as it sought at first to eliminate Covid-19 entirely and then later to control its spread. Although the country reopened its borders to most tourists arriving by plane in May, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that it lifted all remaining restrictions, including those on maritime arrivals. Many in the cruise industry question why it took so long. The end of restrictions allowed Carnival Australia’s Pacific Explorer cruise ship to dock in Auckland with about 2,000 passengers and crew Friday morning as part of a 12-day return trip to Fiji that left from Sydney.Nash said it would take some time for international tourist numbers and revenues to return to their pre-pandemic levels, when the industry accounted for about 20 per cent of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5 per cent of GDP.“I think there’s been many people in the tourism sector who have done it hard over the last two years,” Nash said. “But we’ve always taken an approach where we need to ensure that we get the health response right. Because if we don’t, we know the consequences are dire.”Not everybody is happy with the return of tourists. A sail boat carrying protesters upset about the industry’s impact on the environment followed the Pacific Explorer into the harbour on Friday, before passengers were greeted with an Indigenous Māori welcome and a visit by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#tourisme#croisière#sante#pandemie#frontiere#economie

  • Covid-19 : en Nouvelle-Zélande, les frontières seront complètement ouvertes début août
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/05/11/covid-19-en-nouvelle-zelande-les-frontieres-seront-completement-ouvertes-deb

    Covid-19 : en Nouvelle-Zélande, les frontières seront complètement ouvertes début août
    Avec deux mois d’avance sur le calendrier initialement prévu, les frontières seront ouvertes au monde à compter du 31 juillet, 23 h 59, mettant un terme aux mesures entrées en vigueur en mars 2020 pour lutter contre la pandémie.La Nouvelle-Zélande va entièrement rouvrir ses frontières début août, a annoncé, mercredi 11 mai, la première ministre, Jacinda Ardern, mettant ainsi un terme aux mesures anti-Covid-19 aux frontières parmi les plus strictes au monde.A compter du 31 juillet, 23 h 59, les frontières seront complètement ouvertes au monde, avec deux mois d’avance sur le calendrier initialement prévu, mettant un terme aux mesures entrées en vigueur en mars 2020 pour lutter contre la pandémie. « La Nouvelle-Zélande est désormais totalement ouverte pour le business », a déclaré Mme Ardern.
    Si l’archipel a enregistré l’un des taux de létalité lié au coronavirus parmi les plus bas des pays développés, des voix se sont élevées pour dénoncer des mesures manquant de souplesse et qui ont pesé sur la croissance économique.Pendant une large partie de la pandémie, toutes les personnes arrivant de l’étranger devaient effectuer une quarantaine de deux semaines dans des hôtels gérés par le gouvernement et surveillés par l’armée.
    Jusqu’à présent, seuls les citoyens néo-zélandais et les ressortissants des pays ayant conclu des accords pour bénéficier d’une exemption de visas pouvaient se rendre en Nouvelle-Zélande, le reste du monde devant attendre octobre.« Ce sera une bonne nouvelle pour les familles, les entreprises et les migrants. Cela laisse également du temps aux compagnies aériennes et aux croisiéristes de se préparer à revenir en Nouvelle-Zélande pendant les périodes de pointe que sont le printemps et l’été », selon la cheffe du gouvernement.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#frontiere#circulation#visas#ressortissants#economie#pandemie

  • Coronavirus: New Zealand reopens, welcomes back tourists – but not from India or China | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3176243/coronavirus-new-zealand-reopens-welcomes-back-tourists-not

    Coronavirus: New Zealand reopens, welcomes back tourists – but not from India or China. New Zealand reopened on Monday to about 60 visa-waiver countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Tourists from elsewhere are still barred from entry More than 90,000 people booked flights to New Zealand in the seven weeks since the reopening was announced, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said
    Published: 3:15pm, 2 May, 2022
    New Zealand welcomed tourists from the US, Canada, Britain, Japan and more than 50 other countries for the first time in more than two years on Monday after dropping most of its remaining pandemic border restrictions.
    The country has long been renowned for its breathtaking scenery and adventure tourism offerings such as bungee jumping and skiing. Before the spread of Covid-19, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20 per cent of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5 per cent of the overall economy.But international tourism stopped altogether in early 2020 after New Zealand imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions.A sunny day on the shore of Lake Wanaka in the South Island. International tourism to New Zealand stopped altogether in early 2020 amid the pandemic. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
    The border rules remained in place as the government at first pursued an elimination strategy and then tried to tightly control the spread of the virus. The spread of Omicron and vaccinations of more than 80 per cent of New Zealand’s 5 million population prompted the gradual easing of restrictions.
    New Zealand reopened to tourists from Australia three weeks ago and on Monday to about 60 visa-waiver countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and much of Europe. Most tourists from India, China and other non-waiver countries are still not allowed to enter.
    Tourists will need to be vaccinated and to test themselves for the virus before and after arriving.“Today is a day to celebrate, and is a big moment in our reconnection with the world,” said Tourism Minister Stuart Nash.
    At Auckland Airport, flights bringing in tourists began landing from early in the morning, coming in direct from places including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.The border reopening will help boost tourism ahead of New Zealand’s upcoming ski season. But the real test of how much the tourism industry rebounds will come in December, when the peak summer season begins in the Southern Hemisphere nation.
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more than 90,000 people had booked flights to New Zealand in the seven weeks since the reopening was announced and 21 international flights were scheduled to land Monday in Auckland.“Our tourism industry have felt the effects of the global pandemic acutely, and are working hard to prepare,” she said.Ardern said there were no immediate plans to ease virus testing and vaccination requirements for tourists

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#frontiere#economie#tourisme#vaccination#pandemie

  • Songs, tears and reunions: New Zealand welcomes back visitors as border reopens after two years | New Zealand | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/02/songs-tears-and-reunions-new-zealand-welcomes-back-tourists-as-border-r
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9afee430ab09d0e72c4d2519ce6367e877a10d1a/116_58_4741_2845/master/4741.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Songs, tears and reunions: New Zealand welcomes back visitors as border reopens after two years
    Vaccinated people from about 60 visa-waiver countries now able to enter as part of pandemic reopening plan
    Eva Corlett in Wellington
    @evacorlett
    Mon 2 May 2022 01.46 BST
    Last modified on Mon 2 May 2022 04.09 BST
    Māori songs, tearful embraces and a beloved New Zealand chocolate bar awaited international visitors arriving in New Zealand on Monday – the first foreign guests, other than Australians, to set foot in Aotearoa in more than two years.Since March 2020, the arrival terminals at New Zealand’s international airports have been desolate as the country swiftly closed the border to prevent the arrival of Covid-19.On Monday morning, the border reopened to vaccinated visitors from about 60 visa-waiver countries as part of the government’s phased reopening plan.The first travellers and returning New Zealanders touched down just after 6am at Auckland international airport from Los Angeles, with another flight from San Francisco arriving shortly after.
    (...) Vaccinated international visitors can enter New Zealand if they have had a negative pre-departure Covid test. On arrival, they must self-test for coronavirus, and unless it comes back positive there is no requirement quarantine or self-isolate. All other international visitors will be allowed to enter New Zealand from October, unless the government decides it is safe to do so earlier.
    The tourism minister, Stuart Nash, who greeted arrivals at the gate with a Whittaker’s Peanut Slab chocolate bar, told 1News the reunions “almost bring a tear to the eye”.“People haven’t seen each other for a long, long time – family and friends,” he said. “We have also, of course, got international business people [who] are able to reconnect and they are coming back.”Nash said that while the country is not yet quite back to normal, the reopening was another step towards it.“This has been a long time [coming] – this sends a signal we are now open for business … it is fantastic to see,” Nash said.“Today marks a milestone for visitors from our key northern hemisphere markets in the USA, UK, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and others, who can now jump on a plane to come here.”More than 30,000 people are arriving into the country each week – an increase on numbers throughout the pandemic, but well below pre-Covid levels, which were close to 25,000 people each day.
    Nash said international flight searches to New Zealand were running 19% higher than in pre-Covid times.Auckland airport’s chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said 9,000 passengers would be arriving and departing on 43 international flights on Monday – three times the number in March. The airport has boosted its staff by 40 people, and will continue to do so in the coming months, she said.Hurihanganui said the reunions were giving her “goosebump moments”.“It’s been a pleasure to be here today, and the fact we can play a role in welcoming people back to Aotearoa is fantastic,” she told 1News outside the arrivals gate.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#frontiere#sante#ouverture#pandemie#vaccination#tourisme

  • Don’t separate Covid-positive children from parents, Western diplomats ask China | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3173025/dont-separate-covid-positive-children-parents-western

    Don’t separate Covid-positive children from parents, Western diplomats ask China. French and British envoys raise concerns about practice in Shanghai as city tries to stop spread of coronavirus. Western diplomats have expressed concern about separating children from their parents as part of Covid-19 curbs in Shanghai as the government tries to stamp out the spread of the virus.The city has been separating Covid-positive children from their parents, citing epidemic prevention requirements, which has prompted a widespread public outcry.Diplomats from more than 30 countries have written to the Chinese foreign ministry urging authorities not to take such a step.“We request that under no circumstances should parents and children be separated,” the French consulate in Shanghai said in a letter addressed to the foreign affairs office in the city on Thursday.
    Shanghai locks down western bank of Huangpu River as Covid fight continues in China’s biggest city
    In a separate letter to the Chinese foreign ministry dated the same day, the British embassy in Beijing said it was concerned by “recent instances when local authorities have sought to separate minors who tested positive for Covid-19 from their parents” and requested assurances that this would not happen to diplomatic staff.The French consulate and British embassy both said they were writing the letters on behalf of European Union states as well as other countries including Norway, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.They said they had heard about difficulties caused by Shanghai’s lockdown, which the city started carrying out in two stages starting March 28.The French consulate letter said asymptomatic or mild cases should be sent to “a specialised isolation environment with staff who can communicate in English”.Currently, asymptomatic cases are sent to centralised quarantine centres, some of which have been described as unsanitary and overcrowded.The British embassy said there were concerns over the conditions and lack of privacy in recently deployed mobile hospital facilities, adding that isolating in diplomatic housing was a “preferable solution and consistent with our Vienna Convention privileges”.“The British consulate general in Shanghai has been raising its concerns about various aspects of the current Covid policies in relation to all British nationals in China, with the relevant Chinese authorities,” a consulate spokesman said.
    Locked down in Shanghai: China’s biggest city grapples with its worst Covid outbreak since 2020The French consulate declined to comment on the letter. The Australian consulate general in Shanghai, which was cited in the letters, also declined to comment but said it had been engaging with local authorities on the Covid-19 restrictions.The United States did not appear as a signatory on either letter.However, the US consul general in Shanghai, Jim Heller, told members of a private chat group for US citizens that the consulate had been underscoring many of the concerns raised by the European letter with the Shanghai government.A US embassy spokesman declined to comment on Heller’s remarks but said the treatment of embassy staff in the Covid-19 pandemic was “job one” and that the embassy was engaging on Covid-related policy with the Chinese government.Other countries, such as Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand, which were mentioned in the letters, did not respond to requests for comment.
    The Chinese foreign ministry also did not respond to a request for comment.On Monday, Shanghai official Wu Qianyu said children could be accompanied by their parents if the parents were also infected, but separated if they were not, adding that policies were still being refined.
    China has sent the military and thousands of health workers into Shanghai to help carry out Covid-19 tests for all of its 25 million residents.
    Cases continued to rise on Monday amid a city lockdown, in one of the country’s biggest-ever public health responses.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#france#grandebretagne#etatsunis#norvege#suisse#nouvellezelande#shangai#isolement#famille#expatrie#restrictionsanitaire#caspositif#casasymptomatique#confinement

  • ‘We stand with Ottawa’: muddled messages and fraying consensus at New Zealand’s anti-vax protest | New Zealand | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/09/lets-remember-why-we-are-here-new-zealand-anti-vax-protest-splinters-in
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/630764dd6e451eccca744992bb563239644a3ed5/0_488_7236_4341/master/7236.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    ‘We stand with Ottawa’: muddled messages and fraying consensus at New Zealand’s anti-vax protest
    On day two of a protest against New Zealand’s Covid-19 policies on Parliament’s grounds in Wellington, the stamina and consensus of the crowd was fraying. On Tuesday, thousands arrived in convoys from across the country, but by Wednesday just a few hundred were left, despite pleas from protesters on social media for the crowd to “hold the line”.Perhaps it is because the list of complaints is extensive – there are signs about the vaccine mandates and restrictions for the unvaccinated, signs blaring vaccine disinformation, conspiracies that Covid-19 is a “plandemic”, worries about gene therapy manipulation of children, accusations of media corruption, claims of iwi (tribal) groups selling out, and requests to save a Northland oil refinery from closure.
    In October, the government released a new “traffic light” system for Covid management, including a legal framework for vaccination mandates that could affect around 40% of the workforce. The new rules loosen almost all restrictions for the fully vaccinated, but require vaccination certificates for entry into many businesses and for workers in public-facing roles like education, nursing, police and hospitality.A protester stands on Parliament’s steps with a wall of masked police officers behind her and urges unity through a microphone. “Let’s remember why we are all here,” her voice echoes across the crowd, “the mandate”. Her own crowd boos and heckles her. “Don’t yell at me,” she pleads, before getting off.In front of the woman, the grounds look like a small music festival. Roughly 50 tents are erected – people are picnicking, others are hula-hooping, children are playing. A convoy of Winnebagos, caravans and cars clog the streets around Parliament’s grounds.A singer dedicates a song to spirits and faeries, another raps about New Zealand being an apartheid state. A group of children perched on a fence yell: “Got a vaccine pass? shove it up your ass!”. As some speakers preach for peaceful, respectful protest, three others attempt to break through the police barricade and are arrested – just hours after Parliament’s Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, issued the crowd with a trespass notice.Others, wielding signs of love and unity, tell journalists they should be executed. A message scrawled in chalk on Parliament’s forecourt reads “Hang ’em high”, next to a smiley face.
    “Remove your mask,” a man demands, as I walk through the crowd. When I say I would like to keep it on, he immediately asks if I’m from mainstream media. I reply that I am and he says “don’t twist the truth just because you’re on the government dollars”. He is not the only one demanding I remove the mask.Across the road, at the Backbenchers pub, the staff are on high-alert. On Tuesday, they were forced to shut just 15 minutes after opening for the day, after protesters started hurling abuse.“This is the most significant and volatile protest in 30 years,” its general manager and chef, Alistair Boyce, says. “There’s an inherent anger and feeling of injustice and overt intimidation that I’ve never witnessed before.”
    man stands with signUsually protesters vent their anger at government, Boyce says, but this time it was turned against the restaurant, which is abiding by mandates and guidelines, including mask-use, vaccine passport scanning and limited gathering sizes. “We’re trying to operate the mandate as the government has required, so we were threatened and victimised.” Staff were told they were Nazis and violating human rights.Boyce is sympathetic to the protesters’ concerns about the mandates, and would also like to see them removed, but adds he cannot support “the anarchy and the mob rule” of the crowd. “We’re a divided country turning on itself.”
    Late on Wednesday afternoon, the crowd is slowly thinning and the mood is more subdued – less anarchist uprising; more picnic in the park.And while consensus among the protest group is looking shaky, there was unusual consensus from the other side of the barricade: Parliament. Not a single politician met the protesters.The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Wednesday that New Zealanders had a right to protest. “But New Zealanders also have the right to be vaccinated and the right to be kept as safe as possible in a pandemic and that’s exactly what we’re focused on – and that’s what the vast majority of New Zealanders are doing.”National party leader Christopher Luxon strained to pinpoint exactly what the protest was about.“I think there’s a range of protests out there, it’s very confusing to work out what it is. Essentially I think it’s not fair … when you’re impinging on others’ freedoms as they are, by blocking roads and making it difficult to get to and fro from work – that’s not what it’s about.“I appreciate that there’s a range of views, but bottom line what we’re seeing there is pretty antisocial and pretty abusive.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#canada#sante#frontiere#circulationi#ideologie#antivax#globalisation#vaccination

  • Coronavirus: New Zealand braced for more variants after Omicron, PM says | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3166226/coronavirus-new-zealand-braced-more-variants-after-omicron-pm

    Coronavirus: New Zealand braced for more variants after Omicron, PM says;
    Updated: 2:50pm, 8 Feb, 2022
    The Covid-19 pandemic will not end with the Omicron variant and New Zealand will have to prepare for more variants of the virus this year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday in her first parliamentary speech for 2022.Ardern’s warning came as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Wellington, demanding an end to coronavirus restrictions and vaccine mandates. Ardern’s government has enforced some of the toughest pandemic restriction in New Zealand for the last two years, as the government tried to keep the coronavirus out.
    But it also angered many who faced endless home isolation, and tens of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders who were cut off from families back home as the borders remained sealed. The measures have also been devastating for businesses dependent on international tourists. Ardern’s approval ratings plummeted in the latest 1News Kantar Public Poll released last month, as the public marked her down for the delays in vaccinations and in removing restrictions. Hundreds of anti-vaccine mandate and anti-government protesters gathered outside the parliament demanding an end to all pandemic restrictions, part of a series of protests undertaken in recent months. The mostly unmasked protesters that converged on Wellington on Tuesday had driven from around the country, and their vehicles clogged the capital’s streets for hours as they got out to meet and speak on parliament’s forecourt. The government said last week that the country will reopen its borders to the rest of the world in phases only by October.Omicron cases in the country have been steadily rising since some of the social distancing measures were eased recently. New Zealand recorded its largest ever one-day case number with 243 cases on Saturday.
    Ardern told Radio New Zealand that the country’s Omicron peak could be in March with daily cases ranging between 10,000 to 30,000.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#frontiere#circulation#tourisme#restrictionsanitaire

  • Les îles Tonga confinées à la suite de la détection de deux cas de Covid-19
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/02/01/les-iles-tonga-confinees-a-la-suite-de-la-detection-de-deux-cas-de-covid-19_

    Les îles Tonga confinées à la suite de la détection de deux cas de Covid-19
    Les deux hommes dont le test s’est révélé positif cette semaine à Nuku’alofa ont travaillé dans le port de la capitale, où l’aide humanitaire afflue du monde entier depuis l’éruption volcanique du 15 janvier.
    Les îles Tonga vont entrer en confinement, mercredi 2 février, à cause de la détection de deux cas de Covid-19, un nouveau coup dur pour ce royaume du Pacifique qui peine à se remettre de l’éruption volcanique et du tsunami dévastateurs de la mi-janvier, ont annoncé des responsables.
    Cette nation insulaire était pour l’instant l’un des rares endroits de la planète à avoir été épargnés par le virus, mais le premier ministre, Siaosi Sovaleni, a déclaré que les deux hommes dont le test s’est révélé positif cette semaine à Nuku’alofa avaient travaillé dans le port de la capitale, où l’aide humanitaire afflue du monde entier depuis le 15 janvier. L’éruption volcanique, l’une des plus importantes enregistrées depuis des décennies, a recouvert les Tonga de cendres toxiques, causant la mort de trois personnes.
    L’archipel a fermé ses frontières au début de 2020, en raison de la pandémie provoquée par le coronavirus. Depuis, ce pays de 100 000 habitants n’avait enregistré qu’un seul cas de Covid-19, celui d’un homme arrivé de Nouvelle-Zélande en octobre 2021 et qui s’est depuis totalement remis. Après l’éruption volcanique et le tsunami, des navires des marines australienne, néo-zélandaise, américaine, française et britannique ont livré de l’aide. Toutes les livraisons ont été effectuées en conformité avec des protocoles stricts de « non-contact » afin de tenir le virus à distance.
    M. Sovaleni a précisé que les deux hommes touchés étaient asymptomatiques et doublement vaccinés, comme environ 85 % de la population des Tonga.Le navire australien Adelaïde a accosté la semaine dernière à Nuku’alofa pour décharger de l’aide, alors qu’une vingtaine de membres de son équipage étaient contaminés par le virus.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#ilestonga#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#humanitaire#circulation#frontiere#contamination#non-contact

  • Iles Tonga : des vivres envoyés depuis Tahiti par la Polynésie française
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/01/26/iles-tonga-des-vivres-envoyes-depuis-tahiti-par-la-polynesie-francaise_61110

    Iles Tonga : des vivres envoyés depuis Tahiti par la Polynésie française
    Un navire militaire australien, où un foyer de Covid-19 est apparu, a accosté mercredi dans cet archipel du Pacifique Sud afin d’y débarquer l’aide d’urgence attendue.
    Les secours continuent d’être acheminés vers l’archipel. La Polynésie française va envoyer vendredi de Tahiti des vivres, de l’eau et des vêtements vers les îles Tonga, meurtries par une éruption volcanique et un tsunami, ont annoncé, mercredi 26 janvier, les services de cette collectivité d’outre-mer.Ces missions d’assistance sont compliquées par le refus des Tonga d’entrer en contact avec les équipages, afin de se préserver du Covid-19, celui-ci n’ayant pas encore atteint ces îles reculées du Pacifique Sud.
    Lire aussi Iles Tonga : des images satellites montrent l’étendue des dégâts après l’éruption qui a fait au moins deux morts sur l’archipel. « J’essaie d’obtenir du premier ministre, Siaosi Sovaleni, qu’on descende pendant une heure, mais ils n’ont fait aucune exception, pour personne », a déclaré à l’Agence France-Presse Manuel Terai, délégué aux affaires internationales de la Polynésie française, et coordonnateur de cette mission pour la collectivité ultramarine.
    Le navire Tahiti Nui doit apporter 120 citernes d’eau potable de 500 à 2 000 litres, l’eau sur l’archipel ayant été polluée par les retombées de cendres. La Polynésie française livre aussi 210 bâches destinées à protéger les toits des maisons, ainsi que des tronçonneuses.Le gouvernement local a mobilisé les églises et la population pour des dons de vivres et de vêtements, pour un total d’un millier de mètres cubes de fret, a assuré Manuel Terai.Le voyage du Tahiti Nui, qui devrait durer quatre jours et demi, pourrait être perturbé, selon M. Terai, par une dépression tropicale attendue le 29 janvier et par les signes de réveil d’un autre volcan, dans les îles Vanuatu.
    Un patrouilleur français, l’Arago, a quitté Papeete vendredi avec 40 tonnes de fret à son bord pour une arrivée prévue le 29 janvier à Tonga. Il livrera notamment du matériel permettant de construire des abris d’urgence (500 tentes, des cordages, des outils), des kits d’hygiène et des lampes solaires, ainsi que de l’eau et des rations alimentaires.Un autre patrouilleur français, La Glorieuse, achemine dix tonnes de fret depuis la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Le matériel sera déposé sur une île de l’archipel, en fonction des besoins recensés sur place, avant d’être récupéré par les Tongiens.La France a aussi déployé mardi de Nouméa un avion Falcon Guardian pour un vol de reconnaissance sur les îles isolées, et un avion Casa devrait livrer des ressources d’urgence mercredi. En Océanie, l’assistance en cas de catastrophe humanitaire est déployée par le mécanisme Franz : la France, l’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande coordonnent leurs moyens, notamment militaires.
    Un navire militaire australien, où un foyer de Covid-19 est apparu, a accosté mercredi aux Tonga afin de débarquer l’aide d’urgence attendue par cet archipel. Le ministre tongien de la santé, Saia Piukala, a précisé que l’équipage du HMAS Adelaïde déchargera sa cargaison « sans contact », conformément aux mesures drastiques en vigueur dans ce royaume isolé de 100 000 habitants, qui reste l’un des rares pays au monde encore épargné par le Covid-19.L’Adelaide achemine environ 80 tonnes de produits de première nécessité, dont quelque 250 000 litres d’eau, des kits médicaux et du matériel technique. Tous les membres d’équipage du navire avaient été testés négatifs avant leur départ de Brisbane, mais 23 cas ont été découverts mardi. Ce nombre est passé mercredi à 29, selon M. Piukala.
    Le navire compte plus de 600 membres d’équipage, tous vaccinés. Le ministre australien de la défense, Peter Dutton, a expliqué mardi que les 23 personnes positives étaient asymptomatiques ou montrant des symptômes légers. Le bateau compte 40 lits d’hôpital, des blocs opératoires et un service de soins intensifs.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#tonga#polynesie#france#australie#nouvellezelande#pacifiquesud#frontiere#circulation#insularité#humanitaire#catastrophenaturelle#circulationthérapeutique

  • L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande actent l’échec de la stratégie « zéro Covid »
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/10/09/l-australie-et-la-nouvelle-zelande-actent-l-echec-du-zero-covid_6097738_3244

    L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande actent l’échec de la stratégie « zéro Covid »Débordés par la progression du variant Delta, Auckland et Canberra misent désormais sur une accélération de la vaccination, et non plus sur l’éradication du SARS-CoV-2. Le 17 août, quand le variant Delta a, pour la première fois, été identifié à Auckland, en Nouvelle-Zélande, le gouvernement a immédiatement déployé les grands moyens pour éradiquer le virus et ne pas avoir à abandonner sa politique du « zéro Covid ». Sept semaines plus tard, le constat est sans appel. La bataille est perdue. Le pays enregistre chaque jour quelques dizaines de nouveaux cas, le chiffre le plus haut depuis avril 2020. Après les Etats australiens de Nouvelle-Galles du Sud puis du Victoria, l’archipel a renoncé, lundi, à éliminer le virus.
    « Il est clair qu’une longue période de sévères restrictions ne nous a pas permis de revenir à zéro », a ainsi constaté, le 4 octobre, la première ministre, Jacinda Ardern. Dès le 17 août, elle avait placé la principale ville du pays sous cloche, réduisant les autorisations de sortie au minimum et fermant les écoles ainsi que tous les commerces non essentiels, dans l’espoir que des mesures fortes et rapides lui permettraient, une nouvelle fois, de débarrasser son territoire du SARS-CoV-2. Mais face à cette souche qualifiée de « tentacule », son gouvernement n’a pu que constater son échec. « L’élimination du virus était importante parce que nous n’avions pas de vaccin, maintenant nous en avons, donc nous pouvons commencer à changer la façon dont nous faisons les choses », a relativisé l’élue travailliste.
    Néanmoins, avec seulement 52,7 % des Néo-Zélandais de plus de 12 ans disposant d’un schéma vaccinal complet (à la date du 9 octobre) et un objectif de 90 %, le basculement vers la sortie de crise se fera d’abord à pas comptés afin d’éviter tout engorgement des hôpitaux. Le pays se résoudra-t-il ensuite à vivre avec le virus ? A ouvrir ses frontières, fermées depuis mars 2020 ? Les autorités n’ont pas encore répondu à ces questions, qui divisent dans le petit archipel de cinq millions d’habitants ayant fait de sa stratégie de l’élimination un modèle, reconnu dans le monde entier pour son efficacité. Non seulement la Nouvelle-Zélande n’a déploré que 28 morts depuis le début de la pandémie, mais sa population a pu vivre, la majeure partie du temps, dans un pays où le virus ne circulait pas.
    De l’autre côté de la mer de Tasman, le premier ministre, Scott Morrison, a tranché. L’Australie, qui doit actuellement faire face à quelque 2 500 nouveaux cas quotidiens, ne restera pas isolée du monde une minute de plus que nécessaire. Fin juillet, son gouvernement a présenté un plan de transition en quatre phases dont l’avancée sera fonction des taux de vaccination.Dès que sera franchi le seuil de 70 % de la population âgée de plus de 16 ans doublement vaccinée, les Etats ayant mis en place des mesures de restriction pour contenir des flambées épidémiques commenceront à les alléger. Une fois atteint le taux de 80 %, les confinements devront être rares et ciblés. Surtout, l’île-continent permettra aux Australiens de quitter le territoire, ce qui, depuis mars 2020, n’était possible qu’en cas de circonstances exceptionnelles.Ce moment très attendu ne devrait plus tarder. Les premiers avions pourraient décoller en novembre, selon Scott Morrison. A Sydney, les habitants n’ont pas attendu pour se ruer sur les sites de réservation en ligne. Dans un pays où la moitié de la population compte au moins un parent né à l’étranger, c’est l’une des restrictions qui ont le plus pesé. Pour les Australiens résidant en dehors du continent, aussi. Faute de places dans les rares appareils encore en circulation comme dans les hôtels de quarantaine, des dizaines de milliers d’entre eux sont restés bloqués loin de chez eux. Ils espèrent désormais pouvoir rentrer pour Noël. Le premier Etat susceptible de rouvrir ses portes devrait être la Nouvelle-Galles du Sud. Mercredi, l’Etat a déjà passé le cap de 70 % de sa population ayant reçu deux doses de vaccin contre le Covid-19. Lundi 11 octobre, les habitants célébreront la fin du confinement instauré par les autorités, fin juin, pour empêcher le variant Delta de provoquer une catastrophe sanitaire : le taux de vaccination flirtait avec les 5 %. En quatre mois, ce pourcentage a progressé à une vitesse fulgurante. « La stratégie de conditionner le retour des libertés au taux de vaccination a été efficace. La peur du virus a également joué. Selon nos analyses, on se dirige vers un taux de 85 % de la population adulte vaccinée », se félicite Anthony Scott, spécialiste des questions de santé au Melbourne Institute.
    Quelques Etats australiens – parmi lesquels l’Australie occidentale et le Queensland – qui n’ont pas connu de flambées épidémiques s’arc-boutent sur la politique du « zéro Covid ». Suivront-ils le plan de transition national et ouvriront-ils leurs territoires, ne serait-ce qu’à leurs compatriotes ? C’est une autre inconnue de l’équation australienne.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#zerocovid#vaccination#frontiere#circulation#retour#tourisme#confinement#quarantaine

  • Fiji to reopen borders for tourists to rescue its coronavirus-hit economy, while fighting an outbreak of the Delta variant | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3149422/fiji-reopen-borders-tourists-rescue-its-coronavirus-hit

    Fiji to reopen borders for tourists to rescue its coronavirus-hit economy, while fighting an outbreak of the Delta variant. The island nation in the South Pacific relies on tourism for 40 per cent of its economy, and plans to open up to vaccinated visitors from ‘green list’ countries. Fiji has been fighting a Delta variant outbreak since April, and the opposition party says health is more important than tourist dollars. Fiji plans to reopen for international tourists by November, aiming to rebuild its pandemic-devastated economy while battling a Delta-variant coronavirus outbreak.
    “Our goal is to free our country – and our economy – from the rut of the pandemic,” Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said in a statement last week.
    Once 80 per cent of Fiji’s eligible population is vaccinated, it will offer quarantine-free travel to visitors from a “green list” of locations. Of Fiji’s eligible population, 66 per cent is now fully vaccinated and Bainimarama predicts the country’s target will be met by November 1. Fiji’s green list includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Korea, Singapore and parts of the United States. Visitors would need to be fully vaccinated and test negative for Covid-19 before departure. Once in Fiji, they would stay in designated zones where all contacts, from hospitality staff to tour operators, would be fully vaccinated. Reviving tourism, which government figures estimate accounts for 40 per cent of Fiji’s economy, is seen as crucial to containing rising poverty in the nation of under one million people. But the main opposition, the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), has criticised the plans.“We have got to have our priorities right – health first over the economy,” Sodelpa leader Bill Gavoka told Radio New Zealand. “I don’t believe Fiji is ready.”Former health minister Neil Sharma said high vaccination rates would not stop the virus from spreading. “If you look at vaccination, all it does is prevent an individual from ending up in hospital and/or the mortuary.Fiji was free of community transmission for a year before a Delta outbreak started in April. That outbreak’s case numbers peaked in mid-June with more than 1,200 new infections daily. Only 79 cases were recorded on Sunday. The bulk of Fiji’s tourists come from Australia and New Zealand, where foreign travel is strongly discouraged, and travellers from both countries face a two-week quarantine at their own expense upon returning home.Despite the obstacles, governance watchdog Dialogue Fiji said borders needed to reopen to kick-start an economy that shrank 20 per cent last year.“It’s a very difficult choice for the Fijian government, as opening the border will make us vulnerable to other, potentially deadlier variants,” executive director Nilesh Lal said.“On the other hand, a protracted economic decline could see Fiji suffer a recession with wide-ranging impacts.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#fiji#australie#nouvellezelande#japon#sante#variant#vaccination#frontiere#tourisme#restrictionsanitaire

  • ‘Zero-Covid’ New Zealand outlines plan for reopening borders | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3144672/zero-covid-new-zealand-outline-plans-reopening-borders

    ‘Zero-Covid’ New Zealand outlines plan for reopening border.
    on Thursday laid out its plan for reopening its borders, the latest “zero-Covid” economy to confront the difficult task of charting a path out of international isolation during the pandemic. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government would speed up its vaccine roll out this year and begin a phased reopening of the border in early 2022. Vaccinated travellers from low-risk countries will eventually be able to enter New Zealand without going into quarantine, she said. Residents have largely enjoyed life as normal for most of the pandemic, though a quarantine-free travel bubble with neighbour Australia was suspended last month due to rising Delta variant cases there.
    But as with its “zero-Covid” peers, the country’s strategy has left it at risk of long-term international isolation and decimated key industries such as tourism and international education. Similarly to Australia and Hong Kong, New Zealand’s vaccination drive has also lagged other developed economies, with only about 20 per cent of adults fully jabbed, in part due to complacency associated with jurisdictions where the virus does not feel like an immediate threat. On Thursday, Ardern said the government would make the Pfizer vaccine available to all adults sooner than planned, with all eligible people able to book a vaccination appointment from September 1.
    The government will also use the second half of this year to conduct a self-isolation trial for vaccinated New Zealanders in preparation for the gradual resumption of quarantine-free travel. From the first quarter of next year, new risk-based border settings will be introduced that establish low, medium and high-risk pathways into the country. The pathway a traveller takes will be based on the risk associated with where they are coming from and their vaccination status, and each pathway will have testing and isolation requirements proportionate to that risk. A low-risk pathway will permit quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travellers; a medium-risk pathway would include a combination of self-isolation and/or reduced managed isolation for vaccinated travellers, while a high-risk pathway will require a full 14 days in quarantine and testing regardless of vaccination status. Last month, Australia, which is grappling with Delta variant-fuelled outbreaks in New South Wales and Victoria, announced plans to phase out lockdowns once 70 per cent of adults were vaccinated, and reopen borders to “safe” countries once coverage reached 80 per cent. Although New Zealand’s pandemic response has won widespread public support, there are signs of growing public frustration with the government’s handling of the recovery.In an opinion poll released earlier this month, public approval of Ardern’s centre-left Labor Party fell almost 10 points to 43 per cent, although support remained well ahead of the rival National Party. Neil Carr, a professor at the University of Otago’s tourism department, said the tourism sector in particular had increased pressure on Ardern’s government to find a way out of the pandemic. “The lack of international visitors has resulted in a downturn for many businesses and they are rightly keen to see international visitors returning,” Carr said. “Yet at the same time domestic tourism is very buoyant and those businesses in the sector that have managed to be light and agile have coped better. There are also concerns in the sector about a dearth of people to fill posts in the industry that has for a long time been filled by international temporary migrants or those on working holiday visas.” John Gibson, an economics professor at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, said before Ardern’s announcement that he had low expectations for the government’s plans.
    “The Ardern government is infamous for making announcements about announcements and the event this week is along those lines,” Gibson said.
    Hong Kong, Australia’s goal to eliminate Covid-19 ‘not sustainable’, says infectious disease expertGibson said many New Zealanders felt comfortable with the status quo, in part due to low unemployment and rising house prices.
    “So despite restrictions on international mobility, there is a large proportion of the population who are happy with the situation as it is as they feel wealthier and secure in their jobs,” he said. “The government has manifestly failed to deliver on many previous promises, so Covid is one of the few things they feel they can highlight, electorally, so they have very little reason to change the status quo on this issue even as the rest of the world moves on.”Said Michael Plank, a statistician at the University of Canterbury whose modelling informed New Zealand’s pandemic strategy: “I think everyone recognises that border closures have costs and we can’t keep Covid out forever. But we do need to remain cautious at least until everyone has had the opportunity to be vaccinated.” “Seeing how difficult New South Wales is finding it to control their outbreak reinforces how dangerous the Delta variant is and how crucial it is to keep it out.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#frontiere#variant#variant#vaccination#tourisme#economie

  • Sydney in lockdown, borders shut and hardly anyone vaccinated. How long can Australia go on like this? - CNN
    https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/27/australia/sydney-lockdown-australia-covid-pandemic-intl-cmd/index.html

    Sydney in lockdown, borders shut and hardly anyone vaccinated. How long can Australia go on like this?
    Australia was celebrated for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and for getting its economy more or less back on track long ago.
    But with that security has come complacency, particularly in the federal government, which failed to secure enough vaccine doses to prevent the regular “circuit breaker” lockdowns that come every time a handful of cases emerge, or even the longer restrictions that Sydney is experiencing now. Australia’s borders, controlled by strict quarantine measures, have been all but shut for more than a year.
    Now Australians, who basked in their early successes, are wondering how much longer this can go on. We can’t leave the country, people can’t come in, and we end up periodically in lockdowns, which cost a friggin’ fortune," said Powditch. People have been accepting that this is a diabolically difficult situation, but once we start watching the rest of the world open up, we’re going to turn to anger over the way things like vaccines have been rolled out here."Already there are signs that Australians are getting weary of these sporadic disruptions to their lives. On Sunday, large crowds were seen on Bondi Beach, despite the stay-at-home orders. While outdoor exercise is allowed, images from Bondi showed people bathing in the winter sun and sitting on benches with drinks.
    A 48-hour lockdown was also imposed in parts of Australia’s Northern Territory, including its capital, Darwin, after four Covid-19 cases were linked to a worker at a gold mine. He is believed to have become infected during an overnight stay at a quarantine hotel in Brisbane. Now painstaking efforts to trace all 900 workers who have left the mine for cities across Australia over recent days are under way, as the country relies heavily on a robust track-and-trace system to keep clusters contained.
    Australia has recorded just 910 deaths in its population of 25 million, one of the lowest per capita death tolls in the developed world, and cases have remained low as well.While it beat much of the world in getting its economy back up and running, its tourism sector has taken a massive hit, its universities are struggling without the fees international students usually bring and some Australians, who travel abroad in relatively high numbers, are starting to feel the itch to go on holidays overseas.
    Even New Zealand — the only country with which Australians had an open travel corridor — announced a three-day suspension of quarantine-free travel between the nations starting Saturday because of the outbreaks.
    Australia has fully vaccinated just over 4% of its population, compared with more than 46% in the US and 47% in the UK, according to Our World in Data. Its rates are more comparable with Indonesia and India, which, like much of the developing world, were left out of the agreements with pharmaceutical companies that secured hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for most of the rich world.
    Compounding the problem is hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines in Australia. One survey by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, with research firm Resolve Strategic, found 15% of adults surveyed were “not at all likely” and 14% were “not very likely” to take a vaccination in the months ahead. Australian officials have said they hope to reach herd immunity — the point at which about 80% of the population is vaccinated — before reopening its borders. Prime Minister Morrison earlier said that may not be until mid-2022. More recently, he was even unable to commit to a Christmas 2022 reopening.In a question to the Prime Minister, journalists on Channel 9’s Today program on Thursday suggested that Morrison and his slow vaccine rollout were responsible for the ongoing lockdowns.
    Morrison replied by saying an increase in supply “will really kick in next month in July,” and that 600,000 Pfizer doses were due in next week.
    The government has also been criticized for leaving about 36,000 Australians stranded overseas. Caps on arrivals to the country have made booking seats on flights difficult and expensive, and the cost of quarantine is in the thousands of dollars. It’s the responsibility of the person arriving to foot the bill.
    It’s just as hard for some living in Australia to get out. If someone from overseas has Australian citizenship or permanent residence, they need a government exemption to leave the country.The result is not just holidays lost, but lost time with family and friends.At the last census in 2016, around half the people living in Australia were either born abroad or had at least one parent born overseas.One Brisbane resident from Canada, who is working in a hospital in health care, is hoping a speedier vaccine program will mean fewer border controls and, hopefully, a trip back home.
    “I’m originally from Canada, and don’t know when I will see my family again. Honestly, I think at least 2 years,” the health care worker wrote in a message to CNN."We’re so frustrated! The vaccination process is ridiculous. I’m a health care worker in the top list of people and there was so much confusion. We were told to email and that we’d be contacted when our appointment was ... then we’re told just to show up because that program was actually not recording anything," she said."It’s still only open to [people age] 50+ even though spreaders are averaging 20-30 years of age. We’re sick of lockdowns, knowing the vaccine is out there."And for some residents with strong ties abroad, there are more serious implications to this global isolation.
    Katerina Vavrinec, a 34-year-old from the Czech Republic living in Sydney, said she has sought counseling for mental health issues arising from the separation from her friends and family, and the anxiety that has come with it. She hasn’t been to her home city of Prague for three years.
    “Keeping borders shut is going to have a huge impact on people’s mental health,” she said, pointing to the high number of Australians with family ties overseas. "So this is going to have huge impact on the mental health of millions of people."Vavrinec is on maternity leave and due to return to work in just over a week, though she’s not sure what that will look like in lockdown. But she’s found a silver lining."I’m actually quite happy that we’re in lockdown because I’ve been quite frustrated with the indefinite border closures. So I’m hoping that the lockdown forces people to realize that completely isolating Australia from rest of the world is not going to get us out of this."

    #COvid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante@confinement#frontiere#circulation#santementale#confinement#quarantaine#retour#famille

  • Covid-19 : confinement immédiat pour les plus de cinq millions d’habitants de Melbourne
    https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2021/05/27/covid-19-confinement-immediat-pour-les-plus-de-cinq-millions-d-habitants-de-

    Covid-19 : confinement immédiat pour les plus de cinq millions d’habitants de Melbourne. Les habitants de Melbourne et de l’Etat de Victoria, en Australie, ont reçu l’ordre de se confiner à la suite de l’apparition d’un foyer de Covid-19 dû au variant dit indien.Depuis jeudi 27 mai à minuit, plus de cinq millions d’habitants de Melbourne, la deuxième plus grande ville d’Australie, ont reçu l’ordre de se confiner à la suite de l’apparition d’un foyer de Covid-19 dû au variant dit « indien ».Ce confinement de sept jours concerne la ville de Melbourne, ainsi que l’Etat de Victoria qui l’entoure, a déclaré le premier ministre par intérim de cet Etat, James Merlino, alors que le nombre de cas liés à ce cluster a doublé, passant à 26. « Nous avons affaire à une souche hautement infectieuse du virus, un variant inquiétant, qui se propage plus rapidement que ce que nous avons jamais enregistré », a souligné M. Merlino. Ce variant B.1.617, détecté en Inde pour la première fois, manifeste une transmissibilité accrue. Il se serait propagé par le biais d’un voyageur de retour de l’étranger. Les écoles, les bars et les restaurants vont fermer, tout rassemblement sera interdit alors que le port du masque sera à nouveau obligatoire.
    La Nouvelle-Zélande a déjà suspendu, mardi, les vols sans quarantaine depuis l’Etat de Victoria et les principales liaisons aériennes avec les autres Etats australiens ont été réduites.Cette mesure de confinement, destinée à avoir un effet « coupe-circuit », doit permettre aux autorités sanitaires de tracer au mieux les cas contacts. Durant une semaine, les habitants ne seront autorisés à quitter leur domicile que pour des besoins impérieux, notamment se faire vacciner.
    (...)L’opposition travailliste reproche au gouvernement de ne pas revoir le système de quarantaine, pour les voyageurs arrivant de l’étranger, qui a montré des défaillances. « Si nous avions eu une alternative à la quarantaine hôtelière (…), nous n’en serions pas là aujourd’hui », a déclaré M. Merlino.
    Le premier ministre, Scott Morrison, a balayé ces critiques, affirmant qu’« aucun système n’est infaillible » et que la lutte de l’Australie contre le coronavirus s’est révélée jusque-là particulièrement efficace. « Nous ferons tout ce que nous pouvons pour protéger la vie et les moyens de subsistance des Australiens, nous avons déjà perdu 910 personnes à cause du Covid-19 lors de cette pandémie. Bien sûr, ce chiffre est loin de ce que certains pays ont connu », a-t-il déclaré.M. Morrison a exhorté les Australiens éligibles à se faire vacciner, affirmant que le mode de vie « merveilleux et enviable » des Australiens pendant la majeure partie de la pandémie a rendu certains hésitants à se faire vacciner..

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#australie#confinement#quarantaine#circulation#frontiere#variant#hotel

  • New Zealanders Are Flooding Home. Will the Old Problems Push Them Back Out? - The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/world/asia/new-zealand-return-covid.html

    New Zealanders Are Flooding Home. Will the Old Problems Push Them Back Out? More than 50,000 have escaped the pandemic by moving back, offering the country a rare chance to regain talented citizens. But they are confronting entrenched housing and employment challenges.
    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Like many New Zealanders before her, Cat Moody chased the broader horizons of life abroad, unsure if she would ever return to a homeland she saw as remote and limiting.But when the pandemic arrived, it “changed the calculus” of what she valued, she said. Suddenly, fresh air, natural splendor and a sparse population sounded more appealing, as did the sense of security in a country whose strict measures have all but vanquished Covid-19.In February, Ms. Moody, 42, left her house and the life she had built in Princeton, N.J., and moved back to New Zealand with her husband, a U.S. citizen. She is among more than 50,000 New Zealanders who have flocked home during the pandemic, offering the country a rare opportunity to win back some of its best and brightest.
    The unexpected influx of international experience and connections has led to local news reports heralding a societal and industrial renaissance. Policymakers are exhorting businesses to capitalize on the “fundamental competitive advantage” offered by the country’s success against the coronavirus. The question is how long the edge will last. While New Zealand may look from the outside like a liberal Eden, those returning to the country face some of the same pressures that provoked their departure, like sky-high housing costs, lagging wages and constricted job prospects.
    Given those issues and others, one out of every six New Zealanders lives abroad, a million people in all. Successive governments have pledged, without much success, to find ways to stanch the flood.For many, higher salaries, particularly in neighboring Australia, are a distinct draw. Another powerful force is the intractable housing shortage in New Zealand, which has vexed the current government, led by Jacinda Ardern, and its predecessors.New Zealand’s median house price increased by 19 percent in the 12 months that ended in April, and now stands at $576,000, or 800,000 New Zealand dollars, more than 60 percent higher than in the United States. Treasury figures released on Thursday project that house prices will peak in the middle of this year.
    Some of those who have returned to New Zealand will leave again as soon as the pandemic ends. Such was the lure last year of a coronavirus-free summer spent at crowded beaches and festivals that the government imposed quarantine fees starting at more than $2,000 on New Zealanders intending to make only short visits.And among those who intend to stay long term, many are cleareyed about the challenges.They had always planned to return to New Zealand Ms. Imam said. Their move was hastened not only by Covid-19 but also by the presidency of Donald J. Trump and the United States’ unresolved systemic racism, highlighted by last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.
    Spending time overseas has long been a rite of passage for young New Zealanders like Ms. Imam. A large number — including, in her youth, Ms. Ardern — stay abroad only as long as visas or funds allow. But thousands of New Zealanders migrate overseas each year with little intention of returning — at least before starting a family or retiring, and therefore ending the hunt for faster-paced careers or higher wages abroad.The country typically posts a net loss of thousands or tens of thousands of citizens each year, with its overall population growth fueled by migrants. The pandemic has brought a stark reversal. In 2020, New Zealand posted a yearly net gain of thousands of citizens for the first time since the 1970s, the country’s statistics bureau said.Modeling by the bureau projects that 23,000 of the New Zealanders who returned home from living abroad during the year ending in March 2021 will stay for at least 12 months. By contrast, 7,800 citizens moved overseas. The Ardern government has announced no specific measures aimed at retaining citizens who return. But it is using its border shutdown as a moment to “reset” its immigration priorities, saying on Monday that it would loosen controls for wealthy investors while curtailing temporary visas for the migrants the country has long relied on as citizens moved away.
    Image Lamia Imam, a New Zealander, and her American husband, Cody Sandel. They had always planned to return to New Zealand, but their move was hastened by the pandemic and the political situation in the United States.Lamia Imam, a New Zealander, and her American husband, Cody Sandel. When the pandemic first struck, Ms. Moody and her husband were determined to remain in Princeton, she said. She was undergoing in vitro fertilization, and her husband was applying to American medical schools.
    Ms. Moody, who worked for the World Bank and the consulting firm Deloitte during her time abroad, said it was important that she “not feel like I’m trapped, career-wise or physically or psychologically.” If she returned to New Zealand, she said, “I was scared I would lose that outward-looking global connection.” But as the pandemic dragged on, the couple’s reasons for staying in the United States dwindled, and early this year they moved back to Auckland. They are so certain they will remain, despite the lower wages and less affordable housing, that Ms. Moody’s husband has begun the lengthy process of training as a doctor locally.
    Wages in her field are about 20 percent lower in New Zealand than in the United States, Ms. Moody said, so she has kept her job as the global head of leadership for the strategy firm OneLeap, headquartered in London. She is among many newly returned New Zealanders who hope to retain their overseas salaries for as long as they can.Time zone differences mean workdays in New Zealand and the United States or Europe scarcely overlap. Those working remotely are relying on a new willingness from their multinational employers to consider making flexible work arrangements permanent.For people returning to New Zealand in hope of finding work in the public sector, as Ms. Imam had planned, salaries are constrained. The government announced this month that wage increases would be prohibited for the next three years for those earning more than $71,000 and tightly restricted for those earning above $43,000.What New Zealand is now offering her — a caution that led Ms. Ardern to shut down the country before the virus spread out of control — is what she had craved for the past year as the United States’ at times cavalier response to the pandemic led to disaster.But she worries that New Zealand’s approach has not left it a clear route to rejoining the world. Fewer than 153,000 people in the country of five million have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, and Australians and residents of the Cook Islands are the only non-New Zealanders who can visit. Ms. Imam, who worked in communications for the computer company Dell in the United States, said that New Zealand’s reputation abroad was better than it deserved.Still, she said that new government policies, such as paid leave for women who have miscarriages, had convinced her that the “project that is New Zealand” was worth returning for.“At least we’re doing something right,” she said. “I want to be part of that.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#australie#etatsunis#emigration#retour#pandemie#sante#vaccination#politiquemigratoire

  • New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine | New Zealand | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/03/new-zealand-fires-nine-border-workers-who-refused-covid-vaccine
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/011c31eba1d98a6152fdd2b2c99cd6aa5f29d0db/0_184_5000_3001/master/5000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine. PM Jacinda Ardern had previously said workers who declined to be vaccinated would be moved to other roles
    New Zealand’s customs agency has fired nine border workers who refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The country has required all frontline border workers to be vaccinated by the end of April.In February, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government would not be making the vaccine compulsory for frontline staff, and that those who declined the vaccine would be moved into backroom roles.But no other work could be found to redeploy the nine workers who were in fixed term employment at the maritime border, Jacinda Funnell, Customs’ deputy chief executive for people and capability, said.“We regret that these individuals have had to leave employment, and understand what a difficult situation this is for them,” Funnell said in a statement. She said about 95% of Customs’ frontline staff who were required to be vaccinated had received their first dose, and 85% had received the second dose of the vaccine. Customs had been discussing options with staff since the beginning of March, she said, and had told them that “options for redeployment were very limited due to no other Customs functions existing in the area”. She said the agency had also explored redeployment options across the wider public service.
    A Ministry of Health order made under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act has made it a legal requirement for anyone working in high-risk border environments to be vaccinated by the 1 May deadline.In April, the New Zealand Defence Force threatened to fire service members who refused to get a Covid-19 vaccination.In correspondence to staff published by RNZ, the chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Kevin Short, said: “Electing to not meet the baseline immunisation readiness criteria will result in a review of an individual’s future service.”New Zealand’s unions have spoken out against the firing of workers who decline the vaccine, saying they should be redeployed instead. E tū union has said in their member FAQs: “We do not support mandatory vaccination and will not tolerate discrimination against workers who choose not to vaccinate.” The Public Service Association union has said unvaccinated border staff “should be redeployed, and their employment rights must be protected”.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#vaccination#fonctionnaire#douanier#droit#politiquesante#santepublique

  • Covid-19 dans le monde : la Nouvelle-Zélande suspend sa « bulle de voyage » avec l’Australie
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/04/23/covid-19-en-russie-plusieurs-jours-de-mai-seront-feries-afin-de-lutter-contr

    Covid-19 dans le monde : la Nouvelle-Zélande suspend sa « bulle de voyage » avec l’Australie. La décision de Wellington a été prise après l’annonce par des autorités d’Australie occidentale d’imposer trois jours de restrictions sanitaires dans les régions de Perth et de Peel.
    La Nouvelle-Zélande a suspendu vendredi la « bulle de voyage » qu’elle venait d’ouvrir avec l’Australie, a fait savoir Wellington. Une décision motivée par la résurgence de l’épidémie chez son voisin : la mesure sera en vigueur « dans l’attente d’un nouvel avis du gouvernement ».La décision a été prise après l’annonce par les autorités d’Australie occidentale qu’elles imposaient trois jours de restrictions sanitaires dans les régions de Perth et de Peel dès vendredi, à minuit.Ces nouvelles restrictions ont été décidées « à la suite d’un cas positif chez une personne en quarantaine à l’hôtel et active dans la communauté », ont détaillé les autorités d’Australie occidentale sur leur site Web.L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, dont les frontières internationales sont fermées depuis mars 2020, avaient inauguré, lundi, cette « bulle de voyage » censée permettre à leurs habitants de se déplacer de part et d’autre de la mer de Tasman sans motifs impérieux ni quarantaine hôtelière.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#restrictionsanitaire#quarantaine

  • Covid-19 : l’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande ouvrent une « bulle de voyage »
    https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2021/04/20/covid-19-l-australie-et-la-nouvelle-zelande-ouvrent-une-bulle-de-voyage_6077

    Lundi, les deux voisins des antipodes, qui ont fermé leurs frontières internationales en mars 2020 pour lutter contre la pandémie de Covid-19, ont inauguré un nouvel espace de liberté. Il permet à leurs habitants de se déplacer d’un pays à l’autre sans aucune contrainte.
    Devant les bornes d’enregistrement de l’aéroport international de Sydney, lundi 19 avril, Sue Grocott oscille entre rires et larmes. Dans quelques heures, elle atterrira à Auckland et rencontrera, pour la première fois, son petit-fils d’un an. L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, dont les frontières internationales sont fermées depuis mars 2020, ont inauguré, le matin même, une « bulle de voyage » qui permet aux habitants des deux pays de se déplacer de part et d’autre de la mer de Tasman sans motifs impérieux ni quarantaine hôtelière. « Le début d’un nouveau chapitre dans notre réponse au Covid-19 et pour notre rétablissement », s’était félicitée, le 6 avril, la première ministre néo-zélandaise, Jacinda Ardern.
    Les deux voisins des antipodes, qui ont adopté une stratégie de tolérance zéro vis-à-vis du SARS-CoV-2, ont réussi à éradiquer la circulation du virus sur leur territoire et à retrouver une vie normale – sans masques et avec très peu de mesures de distanciations physiques –, mais au prix d’un isolement inédit. Depuis plus d’un an, leurs frontières sont fermées aux étrangers non-résidents et toute personne arrivant sur leur sol est soumise à une quarantaine, obligatoire et payante, dans un hôtel.En Australie, les ressortissants ne peuvent, en outre, quitter leur pays qu’en cas de raisons essentielles, après avoir obtenu une dérogation des autorités. Depuis octobre 2020, Canberra avait ouvert son territoire aux Néo-Zélandais, mais la réciproque n’était pas vraie et Wellington avait maintenu les mesures de quatorzaine pour les « Kiwis » de retour dans l’archipel suite à un séjour sur l’île-continent.
    Après avoir maintes fois repoussé la perspective d’instaurer un corridor sanitaire, le gouvernement néo-zélandais a finalement jugé, début avril, que « le risque [était] aussi faible que possible ». Désormais les citoyens des deux pays peuvent se déplacer librement et sans tests préalables. Mais cette « bulle » pourra être immédiatement suspendue si des cas d’origine inconnue sont découverts d’un côté ou de l’autre de la mer de Tasman.
    (...)En Nouvelle-Zélande où, en 2019, les Australiens représentaient près de 40 % des visiteurs étrangers, les autorités misent sur cette liberté retrouvée pour relancer le secteur touristique, durement affecté par la fermeture des frontières internationales. Selon leur calcul, le pays pourrait engranger jusqu’à 600 millions d’euros grâce au retour des voyageurs australiens à deux mois de l’ouverture de la saison de ski.Pour Canberra, il s’agit surtout d’une « première étape ». Le gouvernement conservateur rêve d’instaurer d’autres « bulles de voyage » avec d’autres Etats de la région ayant réussi à contrôler l’épidémie de coronavirus, comme Singapour, la Corée du Sud ou encore certaines îles du Pacifique mais, pour l’instant, il estime que les conditions ne sont pas réunies. Le 1er avril, le petit archipel des Palaos et Taïwan avaient été les premiers à inaugurer ce concept. Hong Kong et Singapour ont également entrepris des discussions en octobre 2020.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#circulation#frontiere#tourisme#zerocovid

  • Joy, actually: happy reunions fill Auckland airport as trans-Tasman bubble begins | New Zealand | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/19/joy-actually-happy-reunions-fill-auckland-airport-as-trans-tasman-bubbl
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a69d596c025445326e1c4e21f2e61bae61cd3733/0_158_4733_2840/master/4733.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Joy, actually: happy reunions fill Auckland airport as trans-Tasman bubble begins. Emotional scenes in arrivals hall as hundreds of travellers touch down on first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia
    Lisa Tetai warned her son not to take a sick day when he picked her up from Auckland airport. “I thought there might be media there,” she explains.She wasn’t wrong.As she stepped into the arrivals hall on Monday afternoon, Tetai, like hundreds of others who travelled to New Zealand on the first day of what has been dubbed the trans-Tasman travel “bubble” with Australia, was swamped; a flash of cameras, journalists buzzing with anticipation, then, pushing through the crowd, the people she had actually come to see. Cue tears.
    “I was supposed to be here for a funeral,” she said. “My uncle was admitted to hospital and I booked the earliest ticket I could get. He didn’t make it. They had the funeral last week, but I wanted to see my son and my grandson.
    “I’ve got family all over the North Island and before the pandemic I came back four or five times a year. It has been really, really hard.”
    It happened over and over again. Steph Wood was already crying when she walked into the cacophony. So too was her mother, Narelle. Wood had hoped to be back for Christmas last year, but a Covid outbreak in her home city of Sydney delayed the beginning of the long-mooted quarantine exemption for Australian arrivals.

    When it was finally announced two weeks ago, she didn’t waste time.

    “It was just like, I need to be here as soon as I possibly can,” she said. “I haven’t been back since 2019, I have been counting down the days.”

    Narelle was mostly speechless: “It’s just too good to have her back.”

    So it went all afternoon. A never-ending stream of emotional airport scenes, as though someone had organised a mass re-enactment of Love Actually’s opening montage. It was hard not to be moved. Not only by the reunions but also by the deep link these two island nations share
    Both Auckland airport and the airlines supplying the flights had put a lot of work into manufacturing this media moment – an acoustic band played the same Dave Dobbyn song on repeat all afternoon (Welcome home / I bid you welcome / I bid you welcome) and Jetstar served champagne in the departures lounge – possibly a budget airline world-first – before the first flight to leave Sydney.And for good reason. Monday might have been a day for reunions but there is a lot riding on the bubble. The pandemic has decimated both airlines and the tourism industry. According to Tourism Australia, 8,000 international visitors came in January – a 99% decrease from the year before.For both countries, pulling visitors from across the ditch is a crucial lifeline, particularly as lagging vaccine rollouts have forced politicians to warn other international travel may be some time off.
    While the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Monday that her government was exploring options for travel bubbles with other Covid-free nations in the Pacific, it would not look further afield. Similarly, the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison said on Sunday that Australia was “in no hurry to open those borders” to other countries.
    The questions is whether, after the initial flurry of reunions, the bubble between these two countries will offer a genuine economic boon for devastated tourism industries.Pre-Covid, Australians made up about 40% of the international visitors to New Zealand and spent $2.7bn in 2019. New Zealanders spent almost the same amount – $2.6bn in 2019, although Australia’s larger tourism market meant they only made up about 15% of visitors there. Perhaps aware of the political risks to welcoming Australians if there were to be an outbreak – a new poll by Research New Zealand for RNZ found 22% of New Zealanders were on the fence about the bubble and 28% were against an opening – Ardern has warned the high probability of fresh Covid-19 outbreaks meant the travel bubble could be burst at any moment.
    Indeed, new arrivals on Monday were warned they could be forced into quarantine in the event of an outbreak. But despite the tough stance, Ardern also seemed to get swept up in the enthusiasm on Monday, saying she was personally experiencing some of the excitement that had greeted the travel bubble. “I, like many New Zealanders, have friends and family in Australia,” she said, including some who were “desperate to return to New Zealand”.
    “I know how enthusiastically this has been greeted and I’m really pleased about that,” she said. “It is truly exciting to be able to welcome our Tasman cousins quarantine-free to Aotearoa.”Still, that level of uncertainty could mean that many holiday-makers will delay trips while they wait to see how it unfolds. Tourism NZ acknowledges this, saying its scenario modelling showed it could take until January 2022 for Australia to reach 80% recovery to pre-Covid 19 levels.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#tasmanie#bulledevoyage#circulation#frontiere#sante#economie#tourisme

  • Paradise cost: high prices and strict rules deflate Palau-Taiwan travel bubble | Taiwan | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/15/palau-taiwan-travel-bubble-high-prices-strict-rules
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f0501341a2515c045858669c06653b7907a6cc0c/0_212_3911_2346/master/3911.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Palau-Taiwan Quarantine Free Travel Starts - 01 Apr 2021Mandatory Credit: Photo by Daniel Tsang/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock (11840467d) A woman waits to collect specimen samples for the first flight connecting Taiwan to Palau as Taiwan and Palau start a travel bubble scheme exempting visitors to undergo quarantine. The scheme allows Taiwanese people and Palauans to travel to each country without having to quarantine but gatherings and visits to crowded areas are prohibited whilst self management is compulsory for 9 days upon arrival to their home countries. But a COVID test before boarding the aircraft is required. Palau-Taiwan Quarantine Free Travel Starts - 01 Apr 2021It launched with a presidential escort and the promise of rare international travel to a postcard-perfect tropical island, but the Taiwan-Palau travel bubble has deflated after just a couple weeks, with Taiwanese bookings dwindling to single figures.
    Travel agents, consumers and health authorities have blamed the high cost of the tours and the Taiwanese government’s strict rules for returning travellers.The “sterile corridor” of bilateral tourism guaranteed travel between the two archipelagos, which are both otherwise closed to all tourists, on strictly managed, twice-weekly package tours.
    The inaugural flight, packed with nearly 100 passengers including Palauan president Surangel Whipps Jr, boded well, but this week China Airlines announced it had cancelled an upcoming flight from Taipei after just two people booked tickets. The airline told the Guardian it was constantly assessing the situation but it couldn’t guarantee further cancellations.
    Trans-Tasman travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia to start on 19 AprilTo go on the Palau holiday from Taiwan, tourists must make several health declarations, pay for Covid tests, and not have left Taiwan in the last six months. Upon return they had to complete 14 days of “self-health management”, including five “enhanced” management days banned from public transport and spaces. On Wednesday health authorities announced it was dropping the enhanced requirement, and agencies are hoping it’s enough to restore interest.
    One of the six agencies contracted to run the tours, Phoenix travel, told the Guardian they’d had “sporadic” individual bookings and inquiries about future tours, “but the momentum is not as good as expected”.“The fare is higher than normal, plus the cost of two PCR tests, and the inconvenience of health management after returning home are the reasons why most travellers maintain a wait-and-see attitude,” the spokesperson said.Gibsen Lin, marketing manager of Lifetour travel, said they had received many more inquiries for the upcoming summer holiday period from May to July, and that uncertainty about the process had also discouraged early take-up.
    “Many details were not determined at the beginning. They changed the rules of the game … and then gave consumers less time to react in the market,” Lin said.Taiwanese passengers pay between $2,100 and $2,800 plus associated costs for the group tour which runs for fewer than eight days, keeps the tourists away from crowded locations and local people, and doesn’t allow for autonomous activity.
    On Wednesday evening Whipps welcomed the easing and said returnees who didn’t show signs of fever and hadn’t been in the presence of anyone who did, could “go about their daily lives as usual”.Whipps also said costs had also been decreased, but did not detail by how much. He claimed the presence of Tropical Storm Surigae had also affected bookings, but that the two governments were working closely together to improve the bubble.
    He said his office had been “assured” that the next scheduled flight on 21 April would have more passengers. The Guardian has contacted the Taiwan government for confirmation of the changes and comment.Palau has recorded zero cases of Covid, and is on track to have 80% of its population vaccinated by the summer, while about 90% of Taiwan’s 1,062 cases were recently arrived people in quarantine, and there is no community transmission.The travel bubble was hailed as a lifeline for Palau’s tourism industry, which contributes almost half of its GDP, but had been completely stalled by the pandemic. Taiwanese made up the third-largest proportion of tourists in pre-Covid times, behind people from China and Japan.
    “We seek everyone’s support and patience as we continue to address challenges and improve the sterile corridor. Challenges help us improve customer experience and increase demand,” said Whipps.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#palau#taiwan#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#corridorsterile#circulation#frontiere#tourisme#economie

  • New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases | New Zealand | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/08/new-zealand-suspends-travel-from-india-after-jump-in-covid-19-cases
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/45a0ccc2dd20f57e4a37538ccc129c36ae47a651/0_305_4836_2902/master/4836.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Announces Plans For COVID Travel Bubble With AustraliaWELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 06: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament on April 06, 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April. The travel bubble will aid economic recovery by safely opening up international travel between the two countries while continuing to pursue a COVID-19 elimination strategy.
    New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.
    The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.
    “We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said in a news conference in Auckland.India is battling a deadly second wave of Covid-19 with daily infections this week passing the peak of the first wave seen last September.
    How New Zealand’s Covid success made it a laboratory for the world
    The suspension will start on 11 April and will be in place until 28 April. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.“I want to emphasise 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 said.New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.But it’s been reviewing its border settings as more people with infections arrive in New Zealand, the majority from India.Ardern said the rolling average of positive cases has been steadily rising and hit 7 cases on Wednesday, the highest since last October.New Zealand on Thursday also reported one new locally infected case in a worker who was employed at a coronavirus managed isolation facility. The 24-year-old was yet to be vaccinated.The travel suspension came just two days after New Zealand announced it would be launching a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia on 19 April.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#inde#sante#frontiere#circulation#vaccination

  • New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases | New Zealand | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/08/new-zealand-suspends-travel-from-india-after-jump-in-covid-19-cases
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/45a0ccc2dd20f57e4a37538ccc129c36ae47a651/0_305_4836_2902/master/4836.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases
    PM Jacinda Ardern said the government would look at risk management measures during suspension.NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Announces Plans For COVID Travel Bubble With AustraliaWELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 06: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament on April 06, 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April. The travel bubble will aid economic recovery by safely opening up international travel between the two countries while continuing to pursue a COVID-19 elimination strategy. New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said in a news conference in Auckland.India is battling a deadly second wave of Covid-19 with daily infections this week passing the peak of the first wave seen last September.
    The suspension will start on 11 April and will be in place until 28 April. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.“I want to emphasise 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 said.
    New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.
    But it’s been reviewing its border settings as more people with infections arrive in New Zealand, the majority from India.Ardern said the rolling average of positive cases has been steadily rising and hit 7 cases on Wednesday, the highest since last October.New Zealand on Thursday also reported one new locally infected case in a worker who was employed at a coronavirus managed isolation facility. The 24-year-old was yet to be vaccinated.The travel suspension came just two days after New Zealand announced it would be launching a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia on 19 April.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#inde#australie#tasmanie#sante#bulledevoyage#frontiere#virus

  • Covid-19: Australia and New Zealand will open a travel bubble starting April 19. - The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/05/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases

    Australia and New Zealand will open a travel bubble starting April 19.
    The Australia-New Zealand travel bubble is expected to deliver a boost to tourism and to families that have been separated by strict border closures.
    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand announced on Tuesday that her nation would establish a travel bubble with Australia, allowing travelers to move between the countries without needing to quarantine for the first time since the pandemic began.The bubble, which will open just before midnight on April 19, is expected to deliver a boost to tourism and to families that have been separated since both countries enacted strict border closures and lockdown measures that have all but eliminated local transmission of the coronavirus.The announcement came after months of negotiations and setbacks, as Australia battled small outbreaks and officials in both countries weighed testing requirements and other safety protocols.
    “The director general of health considers the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from Australia to New Zealand is low and that quarantine-free travel is safe to commence,” Ms. Ardern said at a news conference.
    Since last year, Australia has permitted travelers from New Zealand to bypass its hotel quarantine requirements. New Zealand’s decision to reciprocate makes the two countries among the first places in the world to set up such a bubble, following a similar announcement last week by Taiwan and the Pacific island nation of Palau.Australians flying to New Zealand will be required to have spent the previous 14 days in Australia, to wear a mask on the plane and, if possible, to use New Zealand’s Covid-19 contact tracing app. In the event of an outbreak in Australia, New Zealand could impose additional restrictions, including shutting down travel to a particular Australian state or imposing quarantine requirements, Ms. Ardern said.
    She warned that the new requirements would not necessarily free up many spaces in New Zealand’s overwhelmed hotel quarantine system, which has a weekslong backlog for New Zealanders wishing to book a space to return home. Of the roughly 1,000 slots that would now become available every two weeks, around half would be set aside as a contingency measure, while most of the others would not be appropriate for travelers from higher-risk countries, Ms. Ardern said.Before New Zealand closed its borders to international visitors in March 2020, its tourism industry employed nearly 230,000 people and contributed 41.9 billion New Zealand dollars ($30.2 billion) to economic output, according to the country’s tourism board. Most of the roughly 3.8 million foreign tourists who visited New Zealand over a 12-month period between 2018 and 2019 came from Australia.Ms. Ardern encouraged Australians to visit New Zealand’s ski areas, and said she would be conducting interviews with Australian media outlets this week to promote New Zealand as a tourism destination.The bubble would also make it easier for the more than 500,000 New Zealanders who live in Australia to visit their families. “It is ultimately a change of scene that so many have been looking for,” Ms. Ardern said, addressing Australians. “You may not have been in long periods of lockdown, but you haven’t had the option. Now you have the option, come and see us.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#tourisme#economie#retour

  • Covid-19 : l’Australie veut établir une « bulle de voyage » avec Singapour
    https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/03/14/covid-19-l-australie-veut-etablir-une-bulle-de-voyage-avec-singapour_6073066

    Covid-19 : l’Australie veut établir une « bulle de voyage » avec Singapour
    Le tourisme international, qui représentait 30 milliards d’euros par an pour l’économie australienne, a été réduit à néant par la crise sanitaire.
    L’Australie « travaille avec Singapour » à l’établissement d’une « bulle de voyage » entre les deux pays pour le mois de juillet, afin de relancer le secteur du tourisme, anéanti par l’épidémie de Covid-19. Le vice-premier ministre australien, Michael McCormack, a annoncé ce plan dimanche 14 mars à la télévision publique ABC : « Au fur et à mesure que le vaccin sera déployé, non seulement en Australie mais dans d’autres pays, nous rouvrirons davantage de bulles », a-t-il assuré.L’Australie avait fermé ses frontières dès le début de la pandémie afin d’empêcher toute flambée épidémique sur son territoire. Les personnes ne détenant pas la citoyenneté australienne ne pouvaient entrer dans le pays, sauf exception.
    L’accord devrait permettre aux Australiens et aux Singapouriens qui ont été vaccinés contre le Covid-19 de voyager entre les deux pays sans avoir à observer de quarantaine, selon The Sydney Morning Herald. Canberra espère que des visiteurs de pays tiers, voyageant pour les études ou les affaires, et des citoyens rentrant au pays puissent passer leurs deux semaines de quarantaine à Singapour avant de s’envoler vers l’Australie.
    De son côté, Singapour, qui a déjà ouvert sa frontière à quelques pays qui ont maîtrisé l’épidémie, y compris l’Australie, a confirmé être en « pourparlers avec l’Australie » à ce sujet ; la cité-Etat a tenu à préciser qu’elle n’était « pas en discussion [pour devenir] un centre de quarantaine ou un centre de vaccination ».L’Australie a déjà mis en place une « bulle de voyage » à sens unique avec la Nouvelle-Zélande, permettant aux Néo-Zélandais de se rendre en Australie sans quarantaine, même si ce programme a été suspendu à plusieurs reprises lors des résurgences épidémiques. Avant la pandémie, le tourisme international représentait environ 45 milliards de dollars australiens (30 milliards d’euros) par an pour l’économie australienne.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#singapour#bullevoyage#sante#quarantaine#vaccination#tourisme#economie#frontiere#passeportvaccinal