From level 1 to lockdown: 25 NZ passengers fly straight into Brisbane lockdown

New Zealanders on board Air New Zealand’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 New Zealand 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 have gone from alert level 1 freedoms enjoyed in New Zealand into a three-day stay at home order for the greater Brisbane area starting at 6pm local time on Friday. The lockdown was announced by Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after a hotel quarantine cleaner was found to have contracted the more virulent UK coronavirus variant. Palaszczuk said Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young advised her that a three-day lockdown could prevent a 30-day lockdown. The worker, a cleaner who lives in the south Brisbane suburb of Algester, may have been infectious since January 2. Air New Zealand 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. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said at this stage there was no change to the airline’s next quarantine-free flight which was scheduled for Saturday.<br/>