The Cook Islands last night closed its air borders to inwards travel due to New Zealand's second Covid-19 outbreak, meaning planned flights by Air New Zealand will not go ahead.
The latest weekly flight from Auckland to Rarotonga was due to happen this morning, but the Cook Islands Cabinet met late last night to put an emergency closure on the border.
The measures come after a prominent Cook Islands doctor who lives in Auckland was confirmed as having contracted Covid-19.
As 1 News reported yesterday , the doctor's surgery is close to the Americold coldstore facility, which is currently the earliest-known origin point for the recent cluster.
In a statement last night, a spokesperson said the Cook Islands Cabinet met last night for a two-hour discussion, concluding just after 10pm.
"The meeting was called to discuss the latest developments in New Zealand with respect to the recent increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the measures the Cook Islands is taking to mitigate any chance of the virus entering our country," they said.
"Cabinet agreed that in response to the latest situation in New Zealand, especially over the course of the day, that the Cook Islands will be enforcing a temporary total air border closure for inwards passenger travel to the Cook Islands, effective from 11.59pm Thursday 13 August (CKT).
"This will remain in place until a further review by Cabinet on Tuesday 18th August (CKT)."
Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna said the country is "taking very serious measures in order to protect our people and to control and keep this deadly disease away from our shores".
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said last night that "the Cook Islands has so far had no cases of COVID-19 and we want to make sure we are doing the right thing for both countries in terms of safety and wellbeing.
"That's why we have taken the precautionary decision not to carry passengers out of Auckland on tomorrow's service.
"We are contacting affected customers directly to let them know their options."
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