Saturday, 20 Feb 2021 10:59 AM MYT
New Zealand expects its nationwide rollout covering the country s population of 5 million will take a full year, while Australia aims to inoculate its 25 million citizens by October. Reuters pic
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AUCKLAND, Feb 20 ― New Zealand started its official rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech s Covid-19 vaccine today, while Australia finalised plans to begin inoculations on Monday, a new phase in tackling the virus that both countries have kept largely contained.
A small group of medical professionals were injected yesterday in Auckland ahead of the wider rollout which was officially starting with border staff and so-called Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) workers today, officials said.
COVID-19 outbreak on 18-hr New Zealand flight show that lax vigilance, proximity remain key transmission risks
Multiple layers of prevention are necessary for safe air travel, including testing before boarding, social distancing on flights and masks, experts say.
Jan 18, 2021 10:17:59 IST
The millions of airline passengers who traveled over the holidays experienced firsthand the unsettling uncertainties that come with flying during a pandemic. The anxious glances. The awkward semi-distancing. The haphazard mask etiquette, and the absence of regular service. In an effort to reassure, the airlines have updated and adjusted their requirements for travelers, with patchwork results. Some airlines work to maintain social distance, both at the gate and at boarding; others are less vigilant. Mask-wearing is dependent on passenger compliance, and not predictable; nor, increasingly, is flight capacity, which can range from 20% to nearly full.
The country has taken an elimination approach to the virus. It’s given me hope.
Kristina Jenei is a freelance science writer and public health researcher at the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Office and School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. She is currently based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Find her on Twitter @kjmeetswrld. SHARES My room for the mandatory 14-day isolation period, at the Grand Mercure Hotel in Auckland.
Photo submitted.
The future seems brighter since my Kiwi-husband and I arrived in New Zealand two weeks ago. The second wave of COVID-19 exploded back home in British Columbia just as we left. Although New Zealand officially closed its international borders in mid-March, citizens and residents, along with their partners and dependants, may still enter the country.