Shop owners concerned at the number of passengers not wearing masks

Local shop owners and business managers have expressed concerns at the passengers from the flights not wearing masks when entering their stores. 

According to one shop owner, they have noticed that passengers will come from the airport and walk into their stores without wearing their masks, not following the rules as required by the health department that all passengers should be wearing their masks until they have cleared both tests on Day 1 and Day 3. 

BCN News understands that the spike in the number of cases, all linked to the flight on Friday the 11th this month, were because the passengers on that flight were not wearing masks on the plane. 

The Premier confirmed to BCN News that the government has an arrangement with Air NZ that all in-coming flights to Niue, the passengers must wear their masks for the duration of the flight. For some reason this was not implemented on Friday the 11th. 

As the cases increase in NZ with more than 24,000 in the past week, the government is asking all passengers to follow the rules to minimise the risk of spreading the virus within the community. Meanwhile, for the shop owners and workers, they are depending on the good faith of the passengers to do the right thing and mask up, and not to expose the staff and other customers to the risk of contracting the virus.