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T&T Assisting St. Vincent, Barbados in Massive Volcano Cleanup

The Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of National Security says the country is providing assistance to St Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados as a result of the volcanic eruption ashfall which has covered both islands.

In a statement yesterday, the ministry said, “The devastating effects of the ash clouds from the eruptions of La Soufriere in St Vincent and the Grenadines over the past week, did not only affect the island and its inhabitants but extended eastward to Barbados.”

It said in a show of support and solidarity with Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean neighbours, the Ministry of National Security, through the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), continued unabatedly to provide relief support to the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines. It added this support has now extended to the people and Government of Barbados as they seek to undertake clean-up efforts following the accumulation of sulfuric ash fall from La Soufriere.

The Ministry of National Security said on Saturday, April 17, much-needed cleaning items that were collected with the assistance of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and members of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) were stored at the ODPM’s warehouse over the past 24 hours.

It explained that these items were then transferred to the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard’s (TTAG) Ulric Cross Air Station with the assistance of soldiers from the First Engineer Battalion, Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. The operation continued with both soldiers and airmen working together to load items such as safety goggles, industrial brooms and coveralls onto aircraft provided by the TTAG and the Regional Security System (RSS).

The Air Guard’s aircraft with 2,000 lbs of cargo on board, departed Trinidad at 1.55 pm Saturday for Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport. The RSS aircraft departed one hour later with 2,800 lbs of cargo for the same destination. Another 1,000 lbs of cargo are awaiting shipment to Barbados.

The ministry said yesterday these shipments are expected to leave within the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the seismic activity at the La Soufriere volcano continued on Saturday according to UWI Seismic Research Centre.

The centre in a Facebook post explained that seismic activity continued with tremor, hybrid earthquakes and over two hours of lower-level tremor generated by explosive activity and venting.

The centre said the volcano continues to erupt although explosive activity appeared, up to Saturday, to be waning but it added there maybe the growth of a lava dome, which is yet to be confirmed.

The volcano erupted on April 9.
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NASA's Mars helicopter becomes first powered flight on another planet

NASA's experimental Mars helicopter rose from the dusty red surface into the thin air on Monday, achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

The triumph was hailed as a Wright Brothers moment. The mini 1.8kg copter named Ingenuity, in fact, carried a bit of wing fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, which made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

"We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet," project manager MiMi Aung announced to her team.

READ MORE: Significant growth of artificial islands visible in satellite images

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384099167832735748https://twitter.com/Dr_ThomasZ/status/1384099645626847241

Flight controllers in California confirmed Ingenuity's brief hop after receiving data via the Perseverance rover, which stood watch more than 65 metres away. Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on Perseverance, clinging to the rover's belly upon their arrival in an ancient river delta in February.

The $85 million helicopter demo was considered high risk, yet high reward.

"Each world gets only one first flight," project manager MiMi Aung noted earlier this month. Speaking on a NASA webcast early Monday, she called it the "ultimate dream."

Aung and her team had to wait more than three excruciating hours before learning whether the pre-programmed flight had succeeded 287 million kilometres away. Adding to their anxiety: A software error prevented the helicopter from lifting off a week earlier and had engineers scrambling to come up with a fix.

READ MORE: Elon Musk's SpaceX wins NASA moon lander contract

Applause, cheers and laughter erupted in the operations centre when success was finally declared.

There was even more when the first black and white photo appeared on the screens, showing Ingenuity's shadow as it hovered above the surface of Mars.

Next came the stunning colour images of the helicopter descending back to the surface, taken by Perseverance, resulting in even more applause.

Details were initially sparse, but NASA had been aiming for a 40-second flight. The helicopter was supposed to rise 3 metres, hover for up to 30 seconds, then pivot toward the rover and land close to where it took off.

To accomplish all that, the helicopter's twin, counter-rotating rotor blades needed to spin at 2500 revolutions per minute — five times faster than on Earth. With an atmosphere just 1 per cent the thickness of Earth's, engineers had to build a helicopter light enough — with blades spinning fast enough — to generate this otherworldy lift. At the same time, it had to be sturdy enough to withstand the Martian wind and extreme cold.

More than six years in the making, Ingenuity is a barebones 60cm tall, a spindly four-legged chopper. Its fuselage, containing all the batteries, heaters and sensors, is the size of a tissue box. The carbon-fibre, foam-filled rotors are the biggest pieces: Each pair stretches 1.2m tip to tip.

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384099929128202240

The helicopter is topped with a solar panel for recharging the batteries, crucial for its survival during the minus-90C Martian nights.

NASA chose a flat, relatively rock-free patch for Ingenuity's airfield, measuring 10 metres by 10 metres. It turned out to be less than 30m from the original landing site in Jezero Crater. The helicopter was released from the rover onto the airfield on April 3. Flight commands were sent Sunday, after controllers sent up a software correction for the rotor blade spin-up.

Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is set to make its first attempt at flight on April 19, 2021.

The little chopper with a giant job attracted attention from around the world, from the moment it launched with Perseverance last July until now. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger joined in the fun, rooting for Ingenuity over the weekend via Twitter. "Get to the chopper!" he shouted, re-enacting a line from his 1987 sci-fi film "Predator."

Up to five helicopter flights are planned, each one increasingly ambitious. If successful, the demo could lead the way to a fleet of Martian drones in decades to come, providing aerial views, transporting packages and serving as scouts for astronauts. High-altitude helicopters here on Earth could also benefit — imagine choppers easily navigating the Himalayas.

Ingenuity's team has until the beginning of May to complete the test flights. That's because the rover needs to get on with its main mission: collecting rock samples that could hold evidence of past Martian life, for return to Earth a decade from now.

Until then, Perseverance will keep watch over Ingenuity. Flight engineers affectionately call them Percy and Ginny. "Big sister's watching," said Malin Space Science Systems' Elsa Jensen, the rover's lead camera operator.

NASA Perseverance rover lands on Mars

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US: All Adults Can Get Vaccinated, J&J Vaccine Still on Hold

The U.S. is entering a crucial stage of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign this week. All adults are eligible to receive shots starting today, and a panel of health officials will meet later this week to determine the future of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) paused vaccine.

Everyone 16 and older who has not yet been eligible to get appointments to receive the vaccine will be ale to do so starting today. The White House launched a massive media blitz in an effort to target key people in the population with the goal of eventually achieving something akin to herd immunity. In the spotlight: young people, minority communities and conservatives.

According to Axios, top health officials, including Anthony Fauci, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, are leading the media offensive.

The new push begins as the country hits a major milestone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 50 percent of all adults — equivalent to nearly 130 million people ages 18 and older — have received at least one dose of vaccine. More than 83 million adults (about 32.5 percent of the U.S. population) are now fully vaccinated.

As The Associated Press notes, the worldwide death toll now exceeds 3 million since the start of the pandemic.

A panel of CDC advisers is expected to meet on Friday to determine whether to end the pause, in effect since Tuesday, on distribution and administration of J&J’s shot because of concerns about a tiny number of blood clot complications in this country, including one death. Fauci on Sunday said that he anticipates Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine will return for use this week in “some manner or form.”

“I don’t want to get ahead of the CDC and the [Food and Drug Administration] and the advisory committee, but I would imagine that what we will see is that it would come back and it would come back in some sort of either warning or restriction,” Fauci said on several Sunday talk shows.

“I hope that we don’t see anything extended beyond Friday. We need to get … some decision one way or the other,” he added (The Hill).

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St. Vincent Airport Set to Reopen, But Volcano Still Active

The Argyle International Airport (AIA) in St Vincent is scheduled to be re-opened on Monday even as the scientists monitoring the La Soufrière volcano said that explosions with accompanying ashfall, of similar or larger magnitude, could restart soon.

The airport was forced to close because of ash generated from the April 9 eruption of the volcano and the chief executive officer, Corsel Robertson, said that due to significant ash deposits all operations at the Argyle International Airport, have been suspended, until 4.00 pm (local time) on Monday.

“The facility is undergoing rigorous cleanup of runways and apron to accommodate humanitarian flights as a priority,” Robertson said and the civil aviation authorities here said that the James Mitchell Airport, on the grenadine island of Bequia, will remain closed until April 19.

They said the Canouan, Union Island and Mustique airports will remain operational from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm only to accommodate special flights with prior permission.

Meanwhile, the Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) says the swarm of long-period and hybrid earthquakes continued at La Soufrière and that the rate of occurrence of these earthquakes dropped significantly on Friday night “and has remained near-constant since

“No episodes of tremor have been recorded in the last 12 hours,” the SRC said, adding that a new crater, measuring approximately 900 meters north to south and at least 750 meters east to west, has been formed.

“The crater is thought to be at least 100 meters deep and is centered in the southwest sector of the Summit Crater. Within the new crater, there are several vents, but only one can be identified clearly.  Other vents, as indicated by the ash and steam plumes are located in the northern part of the new crater,” the SRC added.

It warned that the volcano “continues to erupt although explosive activity appears to have ended at this time.

“Its current pattern of seismic activity may indicate growth of a lava dome, but this has not yet been confirmed.  Explosions with accompanying ashfall, of similar or larger magnitude, could restart in the future impacting St. Vincent and neighbouring islands,” the SRC said in its early bulletin on Saturday.

Volcanologist, Professor Richard Robertson has said that the ongoing eruption of La Soufriere is expected to be bigger than in 1979 but has only so far produced about one-third of the new material that the volcano did 42 years ago.

La Soufriere erupted explosively on April 9, after three months of effusive eruptions.

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World View: Floyd-Chauvin Trial Wraps-UP, Biden & Emissions, 3 Killed in Texas, More

April 19, 2021

Alternate text

Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd are set to make their closing arguments. We have a timeline of key events since Floyd’s arrest and death.

Scientists, environmental groups and even business leaders are pressing President Joe Biden on emissions targets.

And French ICU staff are battling to keep COVID-19 patients off mechanical ventilators if possible.

Also this morning:

  • Manhunt underway for suspect in fatal shooting of 3 in Texas.
  • Joy, tears as Australia-New Zealand travel bubble opens.
  • European soccer in turmoil over top clubs’ Super League plan.

MIKE CORDER

The Associated Press

The Hague, Netherlands

The Rundown

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd are set to make their closing arguments Monday, each side seeking to distill……Read More

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A timeline of key events that began with George Floyd’s arrest on May 25, 2020, by four police officers in Minneapolis: May 25 — Minneapolis police officers respond to a… …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden convenes a virtual climate summit on Thursday, he faces a vexing task: how to put forward a nonbinding but symbolic goal to reduce greenhouse gas… …Read More

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ROUEN, France (AP) — Slowly suffocating in a French intensive care ward, Patrick Aricique feared he would die from his diseased lungs that felt “completely burned from the inside, burned like th…Read More

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Elation marked the opening Monday of a long-anticipated travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand. The start of quarantine-free travel was a relief for… …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian state penitentiary service said Monday a decision has been made to transfer imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in the thi…Read More

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Three people were fatally shot in Austin on Sunday and no suspects are in custody, emergency responders said. The Austin-Travis County EMS said it has …Read More

NEW DELHI (AP) — New Delhi was being put under a weeklong lockdown Monday night as an explosive surge in coronavirus cases pushed the India’s capital’s health system to its…Read More

LONDON (AP) — The 12 European clubs pursuing a Super League have told the leaders FIFA and UEFA that legal action is already being pursued to stop them from action intended…Read More

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Man pops up from manhole after 'looking for lost dog'

A man has been rescued after being stuck in a manhole in the middle of a suburban street in south-east Queensland.

The man became trapped in traffic after attempting to climb out of a stormwater drain as cars passed by on Brisbane Road at Ipswich.

The first to spot the man was driver Clinton Jackson.

READ MORE: 'You have 48 hours': Scammers continuing to impersonate Australia Post

The man appeared from a manhole, in the middle of the road.

Mr Jackson was driving past and pulled over to ensure a larger traffic accident didn't happen.

"I drove past him at first and then I put the car back into reverse, pulled up and had a quick chat (with him)," Mr Jackson told 9News.

"I got close, and I saw a man down the hole."

When Mr Jackson asked the man what he was doing in the manhole, he said he was looking for a lost dog that had escaped through a drain pipe nearby on the banks of the Bremer River.

"He went through the tunnels, and he tried getting it back," Mr Clinton said.

The man, who was found in his underwear, was captured earlier on video swimming in the Bremmer before entering the drainpipe, with him having to commando crawl to get to the manhole.

"I was actually amazed how he was able to fit, to be honest – very lucky not to get hit, could've caused a major accident right there," Mr Clinton said.

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St. Vincent: Relief Boat Sinks, First Caribbean Bank Sends Aid

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – A vessel that was en-route to St Vincent and the Grenadines with relief supplies sank late Saturday when it was just some six nautical miles from its destination.

The marine police said that those on board the vessel – “Sunshine Angels”  were rescued by another boat.

The individuals who were on board the Sunshine Angels when it sank were captain, Mark Clement St Rose, who lives in St Vincent, and Vincentians Cafu Guy and Winsbert Salton Harry.

The police disclosed that the boat had cleared Customs in  St Lucia and was on its way when the mishap occurred about 4.40 p.m. The incident is being investigated.

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First Caribbean Bank Sends Relief Supplies to St. Vincent

Some of the relief items shipped to St Vincent last week by CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank

CIBC FirstCaribbean has sent a shipment of much-needed supplies to St Vincent and the Grenadines as the region rallies to assist the thousands of people in the island who have been displaced by the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano.

The shipment, which was coordinated by the Barbados Coast Guard, left the island on Thursday evening aboard the Admiral Bay which was due to arrive in St Vincent early Friday morning, to be presented to the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO).

The relief supplies, which include more than 40 pallets of food, water, cleaning supplies and sanitary items, were purchased by funds donated by the bank’s charitable arm, the FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation.

The foundation’s chair and the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Colette Delaney said the bank shared a “deep concern for the well-being and safety of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines as they are confronted [with] the twin threats of an erupting volcano and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic”.

She said the eruption in St Vincent and the subsequent ash falls in Barbados and neighbouring islands demonstrated how interconnected the islands of the region are. She also noted the sense of community demonstrated within the Caribbean in times of disaster which, she observed, was borne out in how quickly the Caribbean reached out– within hours of the first eruption – with offers of aid to the people of St Vincent.

“It is a testament to the closeness and sense of family of our region. We’ve seen this in times of disaster and need over and over again. It proves that despite our differences of opinion and sometimes our squabbles, family always comes first. Our thoughts immediately go to the people of St Vincent and our prayer is that they will continue to be safe,” Delaney said.

 

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Mexican Pres. Offers New Immigration Plan

(CNN) Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will propose a new migration agreement between the countries of North and Central America this week, he announced on Sunday.

His proposal would ask Central American migrants as well as Mexicans considering emigration to work planting trees and crops across Mexico for three years in return for an eventual six-month US work visa, López Obrador said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. Eventually, participants in the program should be able to apply for US citizenship, he said.

The Mexican President plans to present the plan during Thursday’s virtual Climate Summit, convened by US President Joe Biden.

“We could make an agreement and say: ‘Let’s see, we support you to plant your land. If you are going to plant coffee, if you are going to plant cocoa for three years, we support you for three years and even more, but after those three years, once you have your harvest, you already have the automatic right to a six-month work visa for the United States,” López Obrador said from Palenque, in Chiapas.

“You’ll go six months (to the US) and then you will return to your town. And then, three years after having your work visa, with good behavior, you already have the right to apply for your US citizenship,” he added.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.

Thousands of Central Americans have been driven northward by the economic pain of the pandemic and two devastating Category 4 hurricanes last year. The recent influx of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors, at the US southern border has overwhelmed the American government’s resources in the last month.

Biden’s administration has asked Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to tighten their borders and stem the flow of migrants, and has also placed around 28,000 radio ads in Latin America to discourage people from making the trip.

Aiming to find in environmental reforestation a solution to the migration crisis, López Obrador’s proposal would extend the existing Mexican government welfare program Sembrando Vida, or Sowing Life.

According to the Mexican Ministry of Welfare, Sembrando Vida seeks to address rural poverty and environmental degradation by connecting poor families to work on reforestation projects with economic support and other incentives.

“We can plant three million hectares in three years and give up to 1.2-1.3 million jobs to Central American brothers and to Mexicans from Chiapas, Campeche, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco. This will also allow us to order the migratory flow,” López Obrador said in his video.

The initiative would include the US, Canada, Mexico and the Central American countries, he also said.

The Mexican President is one of 40 world leaders who have been invited to participate in the climate summit.

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Corona Effect: Hunger in Brazil a Byproduct of the Pandemic

The queue snakes around the block and each day it gets longer: hungry residents of Heliopolis, São Paulo’s largest favela, waiting in line for the handout that will keep them going until the next morning.

They are given a bowl of pasta with meat and a portion of rice, two packets of biscuits and a carton of milk, shared between a whole household and usually their only meal of the day. Before the pandemic, 300 people would queue up here. Now it is over 1,000, and the charity that runs it has 650 others across São Paulo.

“The vast majority of people who live in the favelas work in the informal economy, as cleaners in homes or helping to bake cakes, so when businesses close or houses stop using them, they feel the impact,” says Marcivan Barreto, the local co-ordinator.

“You see people queuing up at 03:00 for food. I’m very worried that as the pandemic continues, a hungry father will start looting supermarkets. When you’re starving, despair hits.”

During the first wave of the pandemic, Brazil’s government introduced emergency relief, known as “coronavouchers”. More than 67 million people received a monthly sum of 600 reais (£83; $107, at the time).

It was the biggest single injection of financial aid in Brazil’s history, introduced by a president, Jair Bolsonaro, who had previously railed against welfare spending. It pushed extreme poverty to its lowest level since the 1970s – and boosted the president’s support.

But the relief was temporary. With ballooning public debt, the government first suspended the programme and then reintroduced it but at a far lower level of 250 reais and for fewer people.

Marcivan Barreto
image captionMarcivan Barreto, who helps co-ordinate the food distribution, says he is worried: “When you’re starving, despair hits”

The drop in aid has hit Luciana Firmino and her family hard. She and her husband now depend on the food handout to feed their five children, living in a cramped couple of rooms in one of the favela’s narrow alleyways.

When the pandemic hit, she lost her job in a manicure studio and her husband’s occasional work dried up.

Clutching her nine-month-old daughter, she says each day is a decision whether to pay for milk or diapers. “We can’t afford the rent anymore. So we will soon be out in the streets or under a bridge.”

Then she breaks down. “I was hoping for a good life,” she says through tears. “Sometimes I think I should give my children away to social services.”

Luciana holding her nine-month-old daughter
image captionLuciana with her nine-month-old daughter breaks down: “Sometimes I think I should give my children away to social services”

Brazil is in the grip of a health and social emergency. It has the world’s second-highest death toll from the pandemic at over 370,000, and hospitals are near collapse. A study last week found that 60% of Brazilian households have food insecurity, lacking sufficient access to enough to eat.

President Bolsonaro – who once dismissed the virus as “just a little flu”, opposed lockdowns and failed to secure vaccine supplies in time – has lost support, particularly as the food handouts have declined. Attempts at impeachment are stirring.

But he still has his devoted fans, who insist “the establishment” are trying to destroy him.

Three hours’ drive out of São Paulo, the corn harvest is underway on Frederico D’Avila’s farm. He has 1,300 hectares of the crop, as well as soybean, barley and fava, nestled beside dense pine forests.

And as the harvester cuts through the stalks of corn, he talks of how the president is slashing “the system of kleptocracy – chains of corruption – that have run here for 35 years”.

“President Bolsonaro wants to preserve liberty; he wants people to get out, work, feed their children,” he says. “He wants people to decide if they want the vaccine, not to be obligated by the state. Freedom in Brazil has always been under threat.”

I put it to him that the price of that policy is the public health disaster that Brazil is living through. “It’s not a disaster”, he replies. “We don’t have all the data from other countries so we don’t know true numbers of dead.”

Farmer Frederico D'Avila
image captionFrederico D’Avila says the president’s hands were tied by other institutions, a claim repeated by Bolsonaro supporters

Supporters of the president echo the same line, hammered home by the effective Bolsonaro communication machine with claims that if other institutions, including the Supreme Court, had not tied his hands, he could have managed the pandemic fully.

To the charge that Brazil was desperately slow to order vaccines, they reply that the shots could not have been ordered earlier as they had not yet been approved by Brazil’s health regulator.

When I remind him that many countries ordered large quantities of vaccines pending regulatory approval so they could then be rolled out quickly, Mr D’Avila tells me the Supreme Court could have sued the president if the shots were ordered and then not approved.

“If he had unlimited power like a king, it would be better. He wouldn’t need to deal with the Supreme Court and pressure groups,” he says.

The Vila Formosa cemetery, where the bodies of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic are buried in Sao Pauloimage copyrightGetty Images
image captionBrazil has become the epicentre of the pandemic, with thousands of deaths every day

President Bolsonaro is on the back foot. Under fire for mishandling what is becoming a humanitarian crisis and facing a threat from former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose conviction for corruption was recently overturned, paving the way to challenge the president in next year’s election.

And all the while hospitals fill up, the food queues grow longer, and this shattered country watches helplessly as fresh graves are dug.

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New Zealand bubble loophole could see Aussies fly to rest of the world

A loophole means Australians going to New Zealand as part of the new travel bubble won't be stopped from flying onwards to the rest of the world.

While Australian authorities say Aussies still need an exemption to leave the country except for going across the Tasman, officials there have said they won't stop Australians leaving the nation to travel anywhere else.

New Zealanders are "advised" not to travel overseas- but are not banned like Australian residents have been.

However, Australian's Border Force warned if people do travel onwards it won't be easy to get back home because of the strict flight caps limiting the number of passengers allowed into the country.

READ MORE: New travel bubble on horizon as trans-Tasman flights take off

A New Zealand Customs spokesperson told 9News it has "no power" to stop Australians travelling onwards from New Zealand.

READ MORE: Mysterious first flight arrives minutes after Trans-Tasman bubble opens

"This is a domestic issue for the Australian Government's Department of Immigration and Border Protection," a spokeswoman told 9News.

"The New Zealand Customs Service has no role or power to prevent the further departure of Australian citizens to overseas destinations from New Zealand."

An Australian Border Force spokesperson told 9News people who want to transit through New Zealand to another destination, "must apply for an outward travel exemption".

"Australian citizens and permanent residents requesting an outwards exemption must acknowledge the risks of travel, and the limited and high cost of return flights to Australia," a spokesperson told 9News.

"Currently, New Zealand does not prevent Australian citizens leaving New Zealand and travelling onwards overseas.

"Those who travel onwards from New Zealand to another international destination must be aware that returning to Australia or New Zealand may be difficult due to the current restrictions on passenger numbers and the availability of flights. 

Qantas Air New Zealand (iStock)

Australians have been banned from leaving the country, outside of some reasons, since last March.

Home Affairs says permission can only be granted to go, as part of the pandemic outbreak; for work; for medical treatment; for a 'compelling reason' for over three months; on compassionate or humanitarian grounds, or in the national interest.

By the end of last year, 100,000 Aussies were granted permission to go, mostly for more than three months – but thousands were refused.

There are restrictions coming back though, with more than 34,000 Aussies still trying to get home from overseas.

Only about 6000 people per week can come in, so getting on a flight without having a ticket cancelled is difficult, and can be expensive.

Both nations, outside of the trans-Tasman bubble, have hotel quarantine for 14 days, which costs about $3000.

New Zealanders have been able to come to Australia without quarantine since last October.

Only New Zealanders and Australians can go to New Zealand.

A travel bubble with Singapore is also on the cards.