New Zealand extends Australia travel bubble pause

New Zealand will delay the reopening of its trans-Tasman travel bubble, as case numbers in Australia rise and numbers in New Zealand continue to drop.

Deputy prime minister Grant Robertson on Friday confirmed that while the pause in quarantine-free travel had been due to expire next week, it would now be extended for at least a further 8 weeks.

New South Wales announced 1,284 new cases and 12 deaths, and Victoria announced 510 new cases.

Meanwhile, New Zealand reported 11 new cases in the country, all based in Auckland.

COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins was quoted by The Guardian as saying, "protecting New Zealand from any possible further spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 is our absolute priority. We have made great progress to contain our current outbreak and are working hard to ease restrictions next week. Reopening quarantine-free travel with Australia at this point could put those gains at risk.”

Not only this but New Zealand hit a new milestone in its vaccine rollout as more than 3 million people have had their first dose, which is 69 per cent of the eligible population. Just over 35 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated.