Australia Blocks Travel As New Zealand Confirms Its First New Covid-19 Case In Months

New Zealand officials confirmed a case of the highly infectious South African coronavirus variant Monday, the first reported case outside of quarantine facilities in the country in months, prompting officials to trace and cut off the diseases’ potential transmission through the community and forcing Australia to immediately suspend its quarantine-free travel bubble travel.

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Christchurch Central City

At the city's centre is Cathedral Square, surrounding the now-damaged landmark Anglican cathedral, Christ Church. The area around this square and within the 'four avenues' of Christchurch (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue) is considered the central business district of the city. The central city also has a number of residential areas, including Inner City East, Inner City West, Avon Loop, Moa Neighbourhood & Victoria. Cathedral Square stands at the crossing of two major central streets, Colombo Street and Worcester Street, though both have been blocked off or detoured at the approaches to the square.

Cathedral Square, the heart of the city, hosts attractions such as (until recently) the Wizard of New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell, and evangelist Ray Comfort; regular market days; free standing food and coffee carts; an aquarium, pubs and restaurants and the city's chief tourist information centre.

The central city also includes the pedestrianised sections of Cashel and High streets commonly known as 'City Mall'. Refurbished in 2008/09 the mall now features especially designed seating, flower and garden boxes, more trees, paving, and an extension to the central city tram route (with trams operating in time for the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup). The Bridge Of Remembrance commemorating war dead stands at the western end of the mall.

The Cultural Precinct provides a backdrop to a vibrant scene of ever-changing arts, cultural, and heritage attractions within an area of less than one square kilometre. The Arts Centre, the Canterbury Museum and the Art Gallery are located in the Cultural Precinct. The majority of the activities are free and a printable map is provided.

In 2010, the Christchurch City Council released "A City For People Action Plan", a program of work through to 2022 to improve public spaces within the central city to entice more inner city residents and visitors. A primary action is to reduce the impact of motorised private vehicles and increase the comfort of pedestrians and cyclists. The plan is based on a report prepared for the council by renowned Danish design firm Gehl Architects. Since the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Wellington architect Ian Athfield has been selected to re-plan, although many varied suggestions have been promoted for rebuilding the central city

Christchurch

Christchurch, is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.

The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury. The name of Christchurch was agreed on at the first meeting of the association on 27 March 1848. It was suggested by John Robert Godley, who had attended Christ Church, Oxford. Some early writers called the town Christ Church, but it was recorded as Christchurch in the minutes of the management committee of the association. Christchurch became a city by Royal Charter on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand.

The river that flows through the centre of the city (its banks now largely forming an urban park) was named Avon at the request of the pioneering Deans brothers to commemorate the Scottish Avon, which rises in the Ayrshire hills near what was their grandfathers' farm and flows into the Clyde.

An earthquake with magnitude 7.1 occurred in the South Island, New Zealand at Saturday 04:35 am local time, 4 September 2010 (16:35 UTC, 3 September 2010). The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.0 miles), and there were no fatalities.

The epicentre was located 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Christchurch; 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-east of Darfield; 190 kilometres (120 mi) south-southeast of Westport; 295 kilometres (183 mi) south-west of Wellington; and 320 kilometres (200 mi) north-northeast of Dunedin.

Auckland

Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with 1,354,900 residents, 31 percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. In Māori Auckland's name is Tāmaki Makaurau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.

The 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 4th equal place in the world on its list, while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2010 ranked Auckland in 10th place. In 2008, Auckland was classified as an Alpha World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University.

Auckland lies on and around an isthmus, less than two kilometres wide at its narrowest point, between Mangere Inlet and the Tamaki River. There are two harbours in the Auckland urban area surrounding this isthmus: Waitemata Harbour to the north, which opens east to the Hauraki Gulf, and Manukau Harbour to the south, which opens west to the Tasman Sea.

Auckland is home to many cultures. The majority of inhabitants claim European - predominantly British - descent, but substantial Māori, Pacific Islander and Asian communities exist as well.

Positive aspects of Auckland life are its mild climate, plentiful employment and educational opportunities, as well as numerous leisure facilities. Meanwhile, traffic problems, the lack of good public transport, and increasing housing costs have been cited by many Aucklanders as among the strongest negative factors of living there, together with crime.