Travel

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Tuesday that Australian and New Zealand residents will be able to travel between the two countries without having to quarantine. The trans-Tasman travel bubble will start on Sunday, April 18 at 11:59 p.m.

“This is an important step forward in our COVID response and represents an arrangement I do not believe we have seen in any other part of the world. That is, safely opening up international travel to another country while continuing to pursue a strategy of elimination and a commitment to keeping the virus out,” Arden said.

As of today, entry by air to Germany is only possible with a negative Covid-19 test. A corresponding amendment to the Coronavirus Entry Regulation came into force at midnight. The new regulation applies regardless of the Corona situation in the country from which someone is flying to Germany. The test may be no more than 48 hours old at the time of entry. The measure is limited until 12 May.

The largest provider Eurowings spoke of bookings "in an unprecedented dynamic" and launched 300 additional flights between Germany and Mallorca at short notice for the Easter period.

Since Sunday, the RKI no longer classifies the Balearic island as a risk area. Many Germans therefore book flights to Mallorca for the Easter period.

Thailand plans to allow foreign visitors to quarantine in local hotel facilities in a bid to revive its dormant tourism sector. The plan is initially planned for April or May in five provinces, including Phuket and Krabi, says Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn. Visitors would usually stay there for between one and three months.

Tourists would then have to be quarantined there for 14 days. But if there is a negative corona test after three days, they are allowed to leave their rooms and move freely around the hotel complexes. In 2020, tourism revenues in Thailand had plummeted by more than 80 percent to just under $11 billion (about 9 billion euros).

France imposed new border controls on Sunday. Incoming travellers from the EU must have a negative PCR test result not older than 72 hours, though this does not apply to travellers crossing the borders on land.

A man too afraid to fly due to the pandemic lived undetected in a secure area of Chicago's international airport for three months, US. He reportedly found the staff badge in the airport and was "scared to go home due to Covid"

The Australian government's chief medical adviser, Brendan Murphy, has told ABC TV that lifting substantial border restrictions is not expected in 2021, despite an early start to the vaccination campaign. Australia's borders have been closed to travellers since March 2020 to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

"I think that we'll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions – even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don't know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus," Professor Murphy said.

"And it's likely that quarantine will continue for some time. One of the things about this virus is that the rule book has been made up as we go."

New Zealand agreed Monday on a two-way travel bubble with Australia, allowing quarantine-free travel between the two nations in the first quarter of 2021.

“It is our intention to name a date ... in the New Year once remaining details are locked down,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference in Wellington.

On Thursday night, Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte signed a new decree banning travel between regions in Italy from December 20 to January 6 and travel between municipalities between December 25 and December 26 to discourage large private gatherings. The government also resisted pressure from leaders of Alpine regions and will keep ski resorts closed until 7 January.

Reuters reports that the White House is considering lifting travel bans for Brazil, UK, Ireland and numerous European countries. Even though President Trump has not made a final decision on the matter, the White House coronavirus task-force, as well as public health and federal agencies, back the plan to reopen the borders for international travel.

At least five passengers of the SeaDream 1 have tested positive for Covid-19. It's the first cruise ship taking passengers on a cruise since Covid-19 shut down the cruise industry. The ship left Barbados on Saturday and had traveled to Saint Vincent, Canouan Island, and Tobago Cays, according to Gene Sloan from Points Guy.

The State Department has lifted its international travel advisory urging Americans to not travel overseas due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which was first established in March. The department will go back to issuing recommendations on "country-specific levels", available on Travel.State.gov.

"With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice ... to give travellers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions," so the State Department in a press release.

The department has issued travel warnings for over 50 countries and said it would "continue to recommend U.S. citizens exercise caution when traveling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic."

According to the Austrian Ministry of Health a 14-day home quarantine will be mandatory after visiting or coming from a risk area, even if a negative Covid-19 test result can be shown.

The ministry stated that "the possibility of using the 14-day home quarantine instead of a PCR test will no longer exist for entries from countries with entry restrictions". Austrian citizens and people living in Austria can in "justified exceptional cases" undergo a Covid-19 test within 48 hours of arriving in Austria, all others need to present a test result at the border which is less than 72 hours old.

The final official regulation text and the list of areas classified as risk areas is still due to be published by the ministry.

The borders between the United States and its two neighbours Canada and Mexico will remain closed for all nonessential travel until at least August 21 due to rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. The extended border restrictions will not affect essential goods and services.

A European vacation won't be happening for many this summer. On Friday, E.U. officials announced that most travelers from a list of dozens of countries that still haven't contained the coronavirus outbreak wouldn't be allowed into the E.U. as they are considered a risk.

Among those countries are Russia and the United States. Chinese travelers will be allowed to visit but only if E.U. travelers won't be barred from entering China.

A spokesperson for American Airlines has announced that a man was banned from flying with the airline after the person refused to wear a facemask and was kicked off the plane. This has been the first enforcement of the new rule after American Airlines had announced it. The airline stated that the person had ignored requests by the crew, offered a later flight and then later banned after the incident had been reviewed. The ban will be lifted when American Airlines decides to lift the mask requirement alltogether at some point in the future.

The ministry of health has released a statement that two new Covid-19 cases have been imported from the United Kingdom. Dr Siouxsie Wiles from the University of Auckland who specializes in infectious diseases has stated that "That's why we all still need to be really conscious that if you have a sniffle or anything that we still go and get tested, just in case there has been some transmission from someone who's come into the country". The transmission follows after New Zealand had been 28 days without a new community transmission and 24 days since a new recorded case.

The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the schools in his country will stay open and advises following the policy of social distancing. Students should stay 1.5 meters apart from each other while being at school. In addition to this Australia banned handshakes and implemented a policy that people need to go into self-isolation for 14 days upon entering the country.