After the NSW and NT borders opened to New Zealand late last month, there was a lot of concern about those visitors making their way into states who had not agreed to be a part of the bubble, including Victoria.
Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, has announced he will begin accepting direct flights from New Zealand into Melbourne Airport.
The routes will resume beginning Monday, which is in line with an expected announcement further easing restrictions in Victoria.
At a press conference on Friday, Andrews said:
“That is direct flights into Tullamarine so that New Zealanders will be able to travel directly to Melbourne and throughout Victoria. We’re now saying, ‘now is the time,’ because cases are so low and we’re opening up we can have flights coming from New Zealand direct into our city and state.”
Any visiting Kiwi’s will not need to quarantine upon arrival, and Andrews indicated he is keen to open up to other countries too.
“The next logical step after that will be able to have flights landing in Melbourne again from right across the world.”
However, with numbers of the COVID-19 virus climbing across the rest of the globe, that next step will be a challenge. “The likelihood of people wanting to return to our country, and returning with the virus, is obviously higher than it’s ever been,” he said.
However, the use of sniffer dogs, who can accurately detect the virus in arriving passengers, may provide the missing key to re-opening borders.
Currently, Victoria is on it’s seventh consecutive day with no new community transmission cases of the virus.