Victoria opens door to NZ

MELBOURNE: Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews has conceded New Zealanders are free to enter Victoria despite the state not signing up to be a part of the transtasman bubble.

SBS reported that, since the arrangement began on Friday, at least 90 New Zealand travellers had flown to Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania after arriving in Sydney. Five Kiwis had also arrived in Adelaide, according to the ABC.

Those arriving in Hobart, Adelaide and Perth are being required to undergo 14 days of hotel quarantine.

Andrews maintained the federal government did not inform him New Zealanders were entitled to travel beyond participating states and territories.

‘‘People turned up without us knowing. People turned up without the WA government knowing. People turned up, I assume, without the Tasmanian government knowing,’’ Andrews said yesterday.

‘‘These bubble arrangements were presented very clearly as just that — a bubble — and that if you wanted to be part of it, you could.

‘‘We said no, we don’t think we should be at this time. However, it seems we are in it, so we will make the best of it.’’

He said the Department of Health and Human Services’ website had been updated on Sunday night to reflect the situation.

He said New Zealanders arriving in Victoria would not be required to quarantine due to the low number of Covid19 cases in their home country. But they will have to comply with the state’s coronavirus restrictions, which were eased yesterday.

People living in Melbourne can now travel 25km from home and they have greater freedom when it comes to social activities and exercise. Hairdressers and other industries can also operate for the first time in months, though retail and hospitality will have to wait until November 2 before they can reopen.

Worldwide Covid19 cases crossed the 40 million mark yesterday, according to a Reuters tally, as the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere fuelled a resurgence in the spread of the disease.

The Reuters tally is based on official reporting by individual countries.

The Reuters data shows the pace of the pandemic continues to pick up. It took just 32 days to go from 30 million global cases to 40 million, compared with the 38 days it took to get from 20 million to 30 million, the 44 days between 10 million and 20 million, and the three months it took to reach 10 million cases from when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, in early January.

The United States, India and Brazil remain the worst affected countries in the world.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, hospitalised in Israel with Covid19, was placed on a ventilator yesterday after his condition deteriorated, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.

Erekat was rushed to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre on Sunday from his home in the occupied West Bank. He contracted the virus on October 8.

Erekat (65) is considered especially vulnerable to the illness because he underwent a lung transplant in the United States in 2017.

‘‘Due to respiratory distress, he was put on a ventilator and placed in a medically induced coma,’’ a statement from Hadassah spokeswoman Hadar Elboim said.

Erekat was also being treated for an infection. — Reuters