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Australia’s travel bubble with the coronavirus with New Zealand will restart on Sunday, the Department of Health said.
In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, the department said “green zone” flights from New Zealand could resume at 12:01 on Sunday, under certain conditions.
“The AHPPC is monitoring the situation in many places and will continue to advise on a range of decisions in the best interests of the health of all Australians,” said Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly.
“These decisions are not easy and we do not take them lightly – and all AHPPC members appreciate the continued patience and flexibility of Australians and New Zealanders, including those in the tourism industry and travel.
“We will continue to act quickly to protect Australians as circumstances change, but we will always strive to act just as quickly when these situations are brought under control or resolved.”
The bubble was suspended following an outbreak of the British variant of Covid-19 in Auckland.
As Green Zone flights resume on Sunday, all passengers who have stayed in Auckland will be required to provide proof of a negative PCR test until March 1, 2021.
Confirmation of the resumption of the travel bubble following the news Victoria had not recorded any new local cases of Covid-19, with residents of the state starting the first weekend since the end of their third lockdown.
The result came when NSW Health revealed that fragments of the virus that caused Covid had been detected at a sewage system site in Auburn, western Sydney.
In Victoria, no new local or acquired overseas cases were discovered on Friday, with more than 17,700 tests carried out. Only 25 active cases remain in the state.
A positive case linked to the Melbourne coronavirus outbreak had been transferred to the ICU. The patient, who is part of the Holiday Inn cluster, was in stable condition, according to the Victoria Health Department. The cluster now has 22.
A family of three tested positive on Thursday, more than a week after two of them stayed at the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport.
State Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed on Friday that one of the parents and the child remained at the quarantine hotel after returning from overseas in early February.
The whole family began to self-isolate at home on February 7, after learning that a member of hotel staff had contracted the virus.
A total of 22 cases have been attributed to another family of three staying on the third floor of the Holiday Inn at the same time. They had contracted the highly infectious British strain of the virus abroad.
Authorities believe the outbreak began when one of the family members used a medical nebulizer device that spread the virus through the air.
Fears this could spread throughout the community led to a five-day “breaker” lockout, which ended on Thursday.
New South Wales has not recorded any new cases of Covid-19 acquired locally and acquired abroad within 24 hours until 8 p.m. last night. There were 16,422 tests reported as of 8 p.m. last night, compared to the previous day’s total of 16,970.
NSW Health said everyone in the Auburn Sewage Pond should watch for symptoms and, if they appear, get tested and self-isolate immediately until they test negative.
This watershed takes wastewater from the suburbs of Condell Park, Bankstown, Potts Hill, Birrong, Sefton, Bass Hill, Chester Hill, Regents Park, Chullora, Homebush West, Strathfield, Rookwood, Sydney Olympic Park, Newington, Granville, Clyde , Lidcombe, Auburn, South Granville, Guildford, Silverwater, Rosehill, Berala and Yagoona.
NSW Health is treating 22 cases of Covid-19, none of which are in intensive care. Saturday marks 34 days with no locally acquired cases.
Victoria’s director of health, Brett Sutton, on Saturday said citizens of the state should remain vigilant due to “unexpected detections of sewage in recent days”.
“[From] From February 13 to 15, parts of Bayswater and other areas were detected, ”he said. “From February 1 to 16, St Kilda East, Caulfield North, Caulfield, Balaclava and Elsternwick one detection and for Carrum Downs, Langwarrin and Skye, detections for a second consecutive day.
“There is no obvious link between places and known cases, so we ask anyone who has lived in or visited these areas to pay attention to milder symptoms and get tested.”
Foley told reporters on Saturday that further easing of restrictions would be considered on Friday.
While the Holiday Inn Melbourne airport cluster was “far from over,” he said, figures indicated it was “increasingly under control”.
“We always approach this epidemic with the utmost vigilance and caution, and we are always prepared for the possibility of more locally acquired cases,” Foley said.
“The numbers are positive and reinforce the fact that we are getting this under control, but it’s not over until we get out of the 11th and 14th day of testing these 3,000 people.”
In Victoria, Austin Health, Monash Health and Western Health hospitals were chosen to distribute the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Foley said workers most likely to come into direct contact with people who may have coronavirus would be the first to participate in the vaccine.
This included hotel quarantine workers, airport and port workers, high-risk frontline health workers and elderly care workers and residents.
The federal government allocated 12,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Victoria in the first week of the program.
About 59,000 doses are expected in the first four weeks.
Six other hospitals will also become vaccination centers as new vaccines become available. These are Albury-Wodonga Health, Ballarat Health, Barwon Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health and Latrobe Health.
• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
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