Air passengers from Brisbane advised to monitor health after green-zone breach
Officials say a reported green-zone breach at Brisbane Airport may have involved passengers flying to New Zealand.
It has prompted health authorities to advise passengers arriving in New Zealand to monitor their health for the next 14 days.
“The reported incident was in the Hudson Café in Brisbane airport where two individuals from a red-zone country were in the café at the same time as green-zone passengers,” the Ministry of Health says.
“The risk has been assessed as low.”
The ministry understands the two red-zone passengers returned negative results prior to departure from their home country.A second test result from swabs taken today has returned a weak positive for one test and a negative result for the other.
The three flights affected are Air New Zealand NZ 202 from Brisbane to Christchurch which arrived around 4.30pm today; Air New Zealand NZ 146 from Brisbane to Auckland which arrived at 5.30pm and Qantas QF 135 from Brisbane to Christchurch.
“Queensland Health has informed the ministry that the two red zone passengers were wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and are not symptomatic.Additional testing is being co-ordinated by Queensland Health.
“Each plane has been met by officials who provided information to passengers alerting them to the potential breach and providing advice about monitoring their health for the next two weeks and contacting Healthline and getting tested if symptoms develop.”
This is not the first incident involving the transtasman quarantine-free travel bubble.
New Zealand only reopened quarantine-free travel with Western Australia yesterday after a lockdown in the Perth/Peel region.
It followed revelations that a traveller from Perth was able to enter New Zealand despite the Australian city being locked down.
Immigration NZ alerted the Ministry of Health to a person who travelled from Perth to Auckland, via Sydney, on April 26, during the Perth/Peel lockdown period.
The individual has now been identified and is undergoing 14 days’ isolation.
Travelers who have been identified as contacts to cases across the Tasman will have to test negative and self-isolate for 14 days before they depart for New Zealand.
And just a day after the bubble opened, an Auckland border worker tested positive for the virus. It emerged the individual – who had been fully vaccinated – had been cleaning planes from “high-risk” countries.
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