Call for more travel restrictions

Two University of Otago academics have urged New Zealand to impose stronger travel entry restrictions to counter the growing coronavirus threat.

Retired virologist Associate Prof Lance Jennings said the "drastic" situation facing older people in an overwhelmed Italian health system showed what New Zealand needed to avoid at all costs.

In Italy, many people over age 65 who had contracted Covid-19 were not being treated in hospitals, and others of that age were also missing out on treatment for other serious conditions, such as stroke, because of the overloaded system, Prof Jennings warned.

Prof Jennings, who still has links with Otago’s Christchurch campus, said New Zealand had a "sound" pandemic plan but further entry restrictions were needed.

Associate Prof Brian Cox, a public health medicine specialist at the university’s Dunedin campus, also urged more stringent border controls and stronger action on cruise ships.

Given the growing community spread of coronavirus in Australia, he urged greater restrictions on cruise ships, including that new visits should be delayed for a month, he said yesterday.

If coronavirus was detected on a cruise ship carrying several thousand passengers and crew, those affected could not simply be left aboard the ship at any New Zealand port.

Everyone would need to be taken off the ship and put into individual isolation, which would be very costly, and could be beyond our resources to undertake, he said.

In a letter to the editor of the Otago Daily Times, he said that, given existing risk evidence, "borders should be closed to countries with high risk of disease, in addition to those already restricted, and cruise ships rejected from NZ waters".

New Zealand should also temporarily restrict the entry of other Australian visitors because of the rapidly advancing epidemic across the Tasman, he added in an interview.

Border control was the only way to prevent Covid-19 taking hold here.

"Many other countries have tried too little too late and the consequences are alarming.

"New Zealand must be proactive, and not follow and replicate the errors of others," he said in the letter.

Entry restrictions should not be based on the total number of deaths in particular countries, but by coronavirus incidence rates, taking into account the number of active cases relative to overall population, he said.

The top 20 countries or principalities with the highest incidence of coronavirus were, in order: San Marino, with 67 active cases, in a population of about 34,000, Iceland, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Denmark, Switzerland, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Sweden, Spain, Brunei, Slovenia, France, Luxembourg, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Greece was ranked 30th, China 32nd, Australia 44th, and New Zealand 69th, he said.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz

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