New Zealand Temporarily Bars Entry Of 'Indian Travellers' Amid COVID-19 Surge

New Zealand temporarily suspended the entry of travellers from India on Thursday, April 8, including its own citizens for at least two weeks following the surge in a number of COVID-19 cases in India.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in a press conference, said that the suspension will start from 4 pm NZST (9:30 am IST) on April 11 and will continue till April 28. She also clarified that it is not a country specific-risk assessment.

"We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India… The suspension will start from 1600 local time on April 11 and will be in place until April 28. I want to emphasize that while arrivals of COVID-19 from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high-risk point of departure generally. This is not a country-specific risk assessment…" she said, reported NDTV.

New Zealand has not reported any case of community transmission in the last 40days and therefore has virtually contained the virus within its borders. As reported by agencies, the New Zealand government will further deliberate upon measures to deal with the emerging crisis.

In recent days, India has been recording over one lakh cases per day, making it the only country after the United States and Brazil to have recorded a six-digit daily increase in positive cases.

On Wednesday, India witnessed the highest number of positive cases reported on a single day with over 1,15,736 cases. This crisis has compelled various states of India to impose partial or even complete lockdown in certain parts.

Later today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reportedly hold a virtual meeting with chief ministers of various states in order to get hold of the situation in the country.

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