Melbourne lockdown flouters caught at Auckland Airport
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will be consequences for three people from Melbourne who broke Covid lockdown to travel overseas.
The trio drove to Sydney and boarded a plane to Auckland, where they landed and were detained for trying to mislead officials at the airport last week, according to the NZ Herald.
It is has been reported that they were planning on attending a funeral but are now in a 14-day quarantine, which they will pay for.
The travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand opened on April 19 but the latter has closed its borders to states during Covid outbreaks, including Melbourne amid the current lockdown.
The fine for breaking the trans-tasman bubble is NZ$4,000 or six months in jail, according to the NZ Herald.
In Victoria, adults who do not comply with Covid restrictions risk a $1652 fine each.
Covid scare for QLD and NSW after Melbourne traveller tests positive
Classrooms engulfed in flames as fire breaks out at Bondi primary school
Individuals can face a $20,000 fine through the court system.
Ms Ardern would not comment on whether the group from Melbourne would be fined.
"Anyone considering breaching rules we have in place ... the family has been picked up and they've been put into a managed isolation facility," she told reporters on Wednesday.
"So there are consequences, but as for fines, those decisions sit elsewhere."
NZ's Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said that their actions were "disappointing".
Also on Wednesday, the NZ Herald reported a traveller who broke Trans-Tasman bubble rules by flying from Perth to Auckland in April had not been charged.
Towns in NSW, Qld on high alert over Victorian visitors
The news in Auckland comes after it was revealed a couple from Victoria travelled by road to Queensland while the woman was infectious with Covid-19.
The road trip over four days preceded her positive Covid test in Queensland, and she could have been infectious while in NSW.
Authorities are working to track down close contacts and investigate whether she and her partner broke three states' Covid rules.
Victorians were forbidden from travelling more than five kilometres from home at the time the woman began her trip on June 1.
NSW did not shut its border with Victoria, but any travellers from the state were supposed to abide by the lockdown rules even in NSW.
Queensland required all Victorian arrivals to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said the woman developed symptoms on June 3, and it is believed she could have been infectious on the day she left Melbourne.
"She could well have been infectious while she was travelling through NSW and that is something I've been working through with my colleagues in NSW," Dr Young told reporters.
Her husband has not tested positive so far.
with AAP
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
