NZ Capital Wellington On Alert After Aussie Traveller Tested Covid Positive; Level 2 Restrictions Imposed

The traveller from Australia spent the weekend in Wellington before leaving on Monday and visited many tourist spots. The officials have released over a dozen locations of interests.

Image Source: Reuters

New Delhi: After a Covid-19 positive Australian travelled to New Zealand's capital Wellington and visited many tourist spots, new restrictions has been imposed on the city against gatherings. Although the Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins reportedly said that it is not a lockdown but one may be imposed if unrelated cases emerge. 

Wellington is under restrictions level 2 from Wednesday night until Sunday. 

These measures were announced on Wednesday by Hipkins after the Australian traveller visited several locations with Wellington including the Te Papa the national museum and many crowded eateries over the weekend before left back for Sydney on Monday according to media reports. 

“Even though we have no positive cases at the moment, we do know that we had a positive case and that that person had some extensive, potential exposure in the Wellington region,” Hipkins said was quoted as saying by a Bloomberg report. 

The traveller had contracted the virus before their departure from Sydney but since the traveller has had one dose of the vaccine they were likely less infectious. The close contacts have been asked to self-isolate for two weeks and get tested. The restrictions are likely to be reviewed on Sunday. 

According to a Guardian report, on Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Health released a statement saying, “This is the first time an Australian traveller has brought Covid-19 to NZ, and since gone home.”

While New Zealand has been at the top to avoid the virus from very early on and has had no community cases for about four months, the population is vulnerable as the vaccine rollout is slow. The general population is going to get vaccinated by the end of July.