Repatriations of tourists stuck in New Zealand

About 100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand since last week's lockdown began to fly back to their home countries on Friday.

The initial problem for many had been that they were banned from catching domestic flights during the strict month long lockdown, aimed at preventing more coronavirus infections.

The domestic flight ban prevented tourists from reaching the country's main Auckland Airport to catch international flights home.

But Foreign Minister Winston Peters had announced on Thursday that tourists could catch internal flights, so long as they were leaving the country.

He said charter flights organised by foreign countries would also be allowed alongside regular commercial flights.

Officials said 37,000 tourists had signed up with their various embassies seeking to return home, although Peters said in an interview with radio station RNZ that the true number seeking to leave was about 100,000.

Air New Zealand said the first of several flights chartered by the German government to repatriate stranded Germans left Friday afternoon from Auckland bound for Frankfurt via Vancouver, Canada.

British High Commissioner Laura Clarke said 10,000 British tourists had registered with her office wanting to return home.

While most of the stranded tourists are from the UK and Europe, officials said about 2,700 tourists from Asia and 3,800 from North and South America combined had also signed up to be repatriated.

New Zealand has recorded 868 cases of COVID-19 and one death from the disease.

About half of the cases have been linked to overseas travellers returning home, and the country has so far avoided a major local outbreak.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

But the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those with mild or no visible symptoms.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.