Report in the Guardian:

The government has conceded it will not be able to repatriate thousands of Britons stranded in New Zealand for some time after a telephone call between Dominic Raab and the country’s foreign minister, Winston Peters.The British high commissioner, Laura Clarke, told Britons trying to get out of the country that there would be no immediate fixes because the country’s lockdown and the closure of international flights made it nearly impossible.

In a video statement, she said there were up to 9,000 people now registered with the embassy for repatriation purposes and they were working wtih airlines including Singapore, Emirates, Qatar, Malaysian Airlines and Cathay Pacific to get people out when it would be possible.

The New Zealand government level-four Covid guidance is now absolutely clear in limiting domestic flights and transport to essential works only. That means if you are not close to your departure airport you are going to struggle to get on an international flight home.

“The New Zealand government has also put a pause on all repatriation or charter flights until at least 31 March.

We know this makes things really difficult and we are working hard to find a way through.

We are working closely with the New Zealand authorities to find out how people are going to be able to get to airports in a way that is compliant with New Zealand’s Covid guidance.

That is one of the things that our foreign secretary. Dominic Raab. discussed with New Zealand’s foreign minister Winston Peters this morning.

I should be clear though that there aren’t going to be immediate fixes to that. It will take at least until the end of March and possibly longer.

I know that is not the news that you want to hear but I think it’s really important to be frank.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...kdown-covid-19