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Category: border control

  • Covid-19: Border to reopen for New Zealanders end of February

    RNZ News

    New Zealanders in Australia will be able to return home by the end of the month under a five-stage reopening plan announced by the government today.

    The first stages of the plan would see returning vaccinated New Zealanders able to go into self-isolation and taking a test on arrival, rather than going into managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed the plan in a speech to Business New Zealand this morning, in which she defended the government’s use of MIQ and pledged there would be “life after covid”.

    “It’s easy to hear the word MIQ and immediately associate it with heartache. There is no question that for New Zealand it has been one of the hardest parts of the pandemic,” she said.

    “But the choice to use it undeniably saved lives … MIQ meant not everyone could come home when they wanted to but it also meant that covid could not come in when it wanted to, either.”

    The five stages:

    • 11.59pm 27 February: Self-isolation opens for New Zealanders and eligible travellers coming from Australia
    • 11.59pm 13 March: Open to New Zealanders and eligible travellers from the rest of the world; skilled workers earning at least 1.5x median wage; working holiday visas
    • 11.59pm 12 April: Offshore temporary visa holders who still meet visa requirements; 5000 international students; consideration of further class exemptions for critical workforces that do not meet the 1.5x median wage test
    • By July: Anyone from Australia; visa-waiver travel; a new Accredited Employer Work Visa opens and skilled worker exemption is phased out
    • In October: Border reopens to the rest of the world, all visa categories fully reopen

    Unvaccinated travellers would still go into MIQ, but with less demand the Defence Force would begin withdrawing and some facilities would return to being hotels. A core quarantine capacity would be maintained and scaled up, to become a National Quarantine Service.

    Self-isolation period
    The self-isolation period for returning travellers would match that for close contacts under the government’s phased approach to Omicron: 10 days under phase one, seven days under phase two and three.


    Today’s media briefing at Business New Zealand. Video: RNZ News

     

    All arrivals will be given three rapid antigen tests, returning results on day 0/1 and on day 5/6, with one extra test. Positive results will be confirmed with a PCR test.

    Ardern said the tools used to help battle the health crisis had not stayed the same, and while some may feel anxious about the reopening plan, the isolation, testing and high vaccination rates would help keep the virus from spreading too quickly.

    The shorter three-month interval between second and booster dose announced yesterday would mean more people were boosted by the time the first stage hit.

    Ardern said the government would be continually monitoring the value of self-isolation, and it was possible it may not be needed in the “not too distant future”.

    She also confirmed she would lead trade delegations this year to Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe.

    NZ Herald 03022022
    “New Zealand is in demand.” … How the New Zealand Herald reported the border opening policy today before the formal announcement. Image: APR screenshot

    ‘New Zealand is in demand’
    “New Zealand is in demand. Our exports are at record highs, people want to live and work here, international students want to study here, our friends and whānau want to return,” she said.

    “Covid laid bare our unsustainable reliance on temporary migrant labour. Immigration will continue to be a part of our economic story, but we have the opportunity now to build resilience into our workforces while also attracting the skills and talent we need.

    “We have a chance to do things differently.”

    “I hear much talk of a return to business as usual but we are better than business as usual … we must now carve our own recovery. On our terms.”

    “We are vaccinated, increasingly boosted, and continue to prepare ourselves at home and work with a plan – and so now it is time to move forward together, safely.”

    The critical worker border exemptions under Step 1 of the border reopening would cover:

    • Critical health workers
    • Dairy farm managers and assistants
    • Shearers and wool handlers
    • Deepwater fishing crew
    • Rural contractors
    • Veterinarians
    • Teachers
    • International students
    • Major infrastructure projects
    • Tech sector workers
    • External auditors
    • Government-approved events and programmes
    • Other short- and long-term ‘critical workers’

    147 new community cases – 13 in hospital
    The Ministry of Health reported today there were 147 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 44 at the border. Omicron is already the dominant strain.

    In a statement, the ministry said the new community cases were in Northland (14), Auckland (90), Waikato (15), Rotorua (8), Taupō (1), Bay of Plenty (8), Hawke’s Bay (7) and Wellington (4).

    A person admitted to Wellington Hospital has tested positive for covid-19, Capital and Coast DHB confirmed this morning. The ministry said there were another 12 people in hospital in Auckland, Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay.

    There are no people in intensive care.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Don’t enter Solomon Islands’ pleads Sogavare with Bougainvilleans

    By Gorethy Kenneth in Port Moresby

    Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has appealed to his fellow Solomon Islanders at the western border not to allow Bougainvilleans into the country.

    In his nation’s address last Friday, Sogavare recapped the country’s first covid-19 case recorded from a Shortland islander, dropped off by four Bougainvilleans in Shortland, who was automatically tested positive and is still in a 14-day quarantine with his seven family members who also tested positive.

    The four Bougainvilleans returned home the same day and are back in their respective villages.

    Sogavare singled out the New Year delta and omicron cases recorded in Solomon Islands which were brought in by citizens returning from outside Honiara.

    “The western border continues to be an area of priority for health,” he said.

    “For the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and other border force agencies, it represents a potential source of covid-19 incursion into the country.

    “For example, on New Year’s Day, a man from the Shortlands travelled with four Bougainville nationals from Bougainville to Shortland.

    “The four Bougainvilleans returned straight after dropping off the man.

    In quarantine facility at Nila
    “The man is now held at the quarantine facility in Nila along with seven of his family members with whom he had made close contact.

    “They will undergo 14 days of quarantine and only released if all tests results are returned negative.

    “Five who had been held at the Nila isolation ward at Shortlands will be released after serving 14 days if their results return negative.

    “These five individuals have made close contact with people from Bougainville.

    “My good people, living along the western border, I ask you to refrain from going across the border to Bougainville.

    “I also ask you to not allow any visitors from Bougainville to your villages during the period of the State of Emergency. Please continue to be vigilant to prevent the entry of covid-19 through our western border.”

    ABG health chief ‘not aware’
    Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) Health Secretary Dr Clement Totavun told the Post-Courier they were not aware of the incident singled out by Sogavare but also said the border had been closed since 2020 when the covid initial measures were released and PNG Immigration and other border offices had ordered immediate closure.

    “There is currently a ban on traditional border crossing,” he said.

    “The border is closed.

    “The Border Protection Authority is supposed to man the border but surveillance at the moment is not effective.”

    He said he would communicate with National Pandemic Controller David Manning on this issue.

    Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Covid-19 experts fear omicron may soon be in NZ community as border cases jump

    By Jean Bell, RNZ News journalist

    New Zealand covid-19 experts are nervously observing an ever-increasing number of cases at the border, as the threat of an omicron outbreak looms.

    The highly transmissible variant has rapidly spread around the globe and New Zealand has dodged a community outbreak so far.

    But with the escalating number of overseas returnees testing positive, there are fears a new wave of the virus could be out in the community within weeks.

    Epidemiologist and University of Otago professor Michael Baker called the variant a “huge threat” and said it was not a matter of if there was an outbreak, but when.

    Professor Baker was concerned there may have been undetected transmission of the virus — whether that was the delta or omicron variant — during the Christmas and New Year period.

    “It will take a while for people to people to develop symptoms if they were exposed. Everyone should be aware of getting any cold or flu symptoms, which is unusual for this time of year.”

    Daily new community Covid-19 cases 090122
    Daily NZ new covid-19 community cases since 18 August 2021. Graph: RNZ News

    MIQ hotels well set up
    A Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) spokesperson told RNZ the hotels were well set up to cater for omicron cases and a number of precautionary measures were in place to manage the risk.

    This included travellers staying 10 days in MIQ and undergoing four tests during that time.

    Anyone who tested positive was treated as an omicron case until proven otherwise by genome sequencing.

    Despite these measures, Dr Baker was doubtful the country could make it through the month without the omicron variant escaping.

    “We’re getting more than 20 cases a day in the last three days. That’s going to put huge strain on the MIQ system, as we know every infected that arrives increases the risk of border failure.”

    Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles, who is an associate professor at the University of Auckland, told RNZ Morning Report that rather than embracing the arrival of the new variant as some have done, Aotearoa needed to be prepared for its arrival.

    ‘Back to where we started’
    “We’re kind of back where we started again, and what we really need to be doing is trying to delay that coming into our community for as long as possible so we can get everybody with that third booster dose and so that we can also get the vaccine rollout started and hopefully finished with our children,” she said.

    “There is no controlled spread with omicron, I think it’s an absolutely ridiculous idea.

    “There’s being prepared for it to come and then there’s welcoming it with open arms and all we have to look at is everywhere around the world doing open arms and it’s just not working at all.”

    There were 64 new border-related cases in MIQ during the weekend, bringing the total to 227.

    University of Otago senior lecturer Dr Lesley Gray said this did not bode well.

    “We know that for every approximately 100 that we have in MIQ there is a risk that there might be one that might end up in the community.”

    From January 7, travellers to New Zealand must return a negative test within 48 hours of their departure, down from 72 hours.

    Catching virus in short time-frame
    Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay had previously said that people may have been incubating covid-19 before their flight or been exposed during their travel.

    Dr Gray was concerned people were catching the virus within that short-time frame.

    “We do have to ask the questions of ‘how, what, when, and why’. As these people travel, they’re distanced for the most part on the planes, when they’re in airports they’re wearing masks and they have to take a reasonable number of precautions,” she said.

    She urged New Zealanders to ask themselves if they were ready for an omicron outbreak.

    This included having adequate supplies and a suitable place to quarantine if needed.

    She said getting a booster shot, scanning in, mask-wearing, and testing were among the best tools to tackle omicron.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • NZ may need to tighten borders further to keep omicron at bay, says professor

    RNZ News

    More moves to tighten the New Zealand’s borders may be needed on top of the decision to delay the start of the self-isolation scheme for Australian travellers, a professor of public health says.

    Today, the government announced cabinet has decided to delay the self-isolation scheme.

    Instead of travellers being allowed to self-isolate from January 17 the change will take effect from the end of February.

    For those who had booked to come home to New Zealand from Australia from January 17, the government would work with airlines to ensure some MIQ space was available, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a media update.

    Air New Zealand has already cancelled about 120 flights, mostly from across the Tasman, as a result of the changes.

    The rapid spread worldwide of the omicron variant of covid-19 is the main reason for the policy rethink.

    It is among changes announced today that include a vaccine rollout for five to 11 year olds from January and a reduction in the time to wait for booster shots — from six months to four months.

    Public health experts welcome change
    The changes are being welcomed by public health experts, with Professor Nick Wilson from Otago University saying that the delay in self-isolation was the most important.

    He said temporarily turning down the tap on international travellers from countries with the worst omicron outbreaks (at least for two to three months) may also be needed.

    New South Wales officials over the weekend noted omicron was now likely the dominant strain in the state’s third outbreak, in which today alone it recorded more than 3000 cases.

    But Professor Wilson said the government may also need to:

    • insist on rapid antigen tests at the airport for international travellers coming into Aotearoa;
    • make more improvements to MIQ facilities in terms of ventilation and avoiding shared spaces such as exercise areas; and
    • re-design the alert level system so that it can rapidly eliminate any outbreaks of the omicron variant that arise in the community.

    “While there is still a lot of uncertainty around the omicron variant, especially the risk of severe disease, it is wise to try to keep it out of NZ as long as possible and until more is known about this variant,” Professor Wilson said.

    No clear evidence of lower severity
    Dr Matthew Hobbs, a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Canterbury, said he was concerned that a recent study from Imperial College London showed no clear evidence that omicron had lower severity than delta.

    “Though it will be disappointing for many, through reviewing and postponing current border reopening plans, New Zealand has bought itself some much needed time while it works out how much of a problem omicron could be — like the last time we closed the Trans-Tasman bubble,” he said.

    “It also provides us with a few more crucial months to get the booster shots up and roll out the paediatric vaccines.”

    Dr Hobbs suggested the vaccination requirement for arrivals could be raised to three doses to reduce the risk of Omicron coming to New Zealand.

    “More broadly, we also need to shift our domestic focus to a global perspective. The root of this issue is that the world isn’t doing enough to stop the spread of covid-19,” Dr Hobbs said.

    “Wealthy countries around the world continue to hoard vaccines. This ultimately gives the virus more opportunities to replicate and mutate.

    “Omicron should act as the wake-up call to ensure worldwide equitable vaccine delivery before even more concerning variants emerge.”

    Omicron would ‘reach NZ quickly from Australia’
    Professor Michael Plank, from Te Pūnaha Matatini and the University of Canterbury, said the rapidly growing omicron outbreak in New South Wales and its spread to other Australian states meant it would almost certainly get into the community in New Zealand within weeks if the country went ahead with border reopening plans in January.

    “Delaying reopening plans to the end of February gives us a chance to keep omicron out until the majority of adults have received their third dose of the vaccine,” he said.

    “Increasing the MIQ stay to 10 days and shortening the pre-departure test period from 72 to 48 hours are sensible ways to reduce the risk of the highly transmissible Omicron variant leaking out of MIQ. Adding a requirement for a rapid test on the day of the departure would be a useful extra measure.

    “Hopefully these measures will keep omicron contained at the border. But if omicron does find its way into the community, the government has said it intends to use the red level of the traffic light system to try and control its spread.

    “It’s unlikely this would be sufficient to prevent rapid spread of the variant if community transmission became established.

    “Rolling out booster doses as quickly as possible is therefore essential to minimising the risk that omicron overwhelms our healthcare system.”

    Hipkins also noted in the announcement today that the variant would spread quickly if it was in the community, and that public health advice suggested that soon every case coming into our border will be the omicron variant.

    28 new covid-19 community cases
    The Ministry of Health reported today there are 28 new cases of covid-19 in the community, and no new omicron cases in Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ).

    In a statement, the ministry said of the new cases, 21 were in Auckland, five in Bay of Plenty, and two in Taranaki.

    There are 57 cases in hospital, 10 in North Shore, 25 in Auckland, 19 in Middlemore, one in Northland, and two in Waikato. Seven cases are in ICU or HDU (one in North Shore; two in Auckland; three in Middlemore, one in Northland).

    The ministry has also revealed that a recent returnee who left Middlemore Hospital without discharge, after being transferred from MIQ, also took their young child with them.

    The child was transferred in the ambulance with the parent because it meant they could not be left unattended in managed isolation due to their age.

    Police are currently investigating the incident which happened early on Monday morning.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. The public health comments in this report were put together by the Science Media Centre. Professor Michael Plank is partly funded by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for research on mathematical modelling of covid-19.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Vaccine Nationalism

    The world’s richest countries have undermined the international cooperation we need to end this pandemic.

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.

  • Abolish Family Policing, Too

    The child welfare system is a powerful state policing apparatus that functions to regulate poor and working-class families.

    This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.