Quarantine-free passengers fly into lockdown

New Zealanders on board Air NZ’s first quarantine-free flight into Brisbane have gone straight into a three-day lockdown due to an outbreak of a more infectious variant of Covid-19 at a managed isolation facility in the Australian city.

An Air NZ spokeswoman said there were 25 customers on board flight NZ147, which departed Auckland at 7.40am on Thursday.

‘‘The flight went smoothly and customers were delighted to be reunited with their loved ones in Brisbane.’’ However, they had gone from alert level 1 freedoms in New Zealand into a three-day stay-at-home order for the greater Brisbane area, starting at 6pm local time yesterday.

The lockdown was announced by Queensland’s Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, after a hotel quarantine cleaner was found to have contracted the more virulent British coronavirus variant. Palaszczuk said Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young had advised her that a three-day lockdown could prevent a 30-day lockdown.

Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan were all included in the lockdown.

The worker, a cleaner who lives in the south Brisbane suburb of Algester, may have been infectious since January 2. There were five cases of the British strain in the quarantine hotel she worked at.

Air NZ operates five return flights per week between Auckland and Brisbane. As of Wednesday, three of those services were quarantine-free flights, while the remaining two would be quarantine flights.

Berenice Hurst was booked to fly from Auckland to Brisbane with her family this morning. Air NZ told her the flight was going ahead but she said the phone lines for Queensland Health were jammed. ‘‘We need some answers,’’ Hurst said.

The family was moving back to Australia, so their travel was deemed essential. But they were not sure what they should do when they landed. At the moment it looked like they would have to hire a rental car and book into a hotel until the lockdown lifted, she said.

Hurst said she ‘‘had a big cry’’ on hearing the news after keeping it together all week.

Queensland’s bubble arrangement with New Zealand is one-way, meaning those returning to New Zealand still need to quarantine for 14 days, provide payment for quarantine and register their managed isolation accommodation requirements via the New Zealand managed isolation website.