WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – New Zealand on Friday suspended its non-quarantine travel bubble with Australia for at least eight weeks due to a growing cluster of COVID-19 in Sydney.

New Zealand recently imposed quarantine restrictions on travelers from the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, where lockdowns have been introduced to contain clusters of delta variants.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said non-quarantine travel will be suspended from anywhere in Australia from 11:59 p.m. New Zealand time.

Ardern said she hopes all New Zealanders who want to fly home from Australia with managed flights within a week.

The travel bubble has been around since April and has provided the two countries with their only international flights without quarantine.

Australia and New Zealand have been among the most effective in the world at containing coronavirus outbreaks. But Sydney is failing to contain a cluster of the highly contagious Delta variant, which has spread across the country.

The state of New South Wales declared a state of emergency following the Sydney outbreak on Friday. Authorities have reported one death and 136 new infections in the last 24-hour period, the biggest daily jump since the outbreak began in mid-June.

In other news in the Asia-Pacific region:

– Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City extended a two-week lockdown with even tighter restrictions as confirmed COVID-19 cases hit a new high. Vietnam has reported more than 6,000 new cases, including 4,200 in the southern metropolis, in the past 24 hours. The latest directive from city authorities says people living in high-risk areas are only allowed to go out twice a week for necessities, including food and medicine. Only a handful of essential businesses are open, interprovincial public transportation is suspended while a limited number of domestic flights continue to operate from Ho Chi Minh City. Passengers are subject to a three-week quarantine.

– Philippine officials say they have detected the highly contagious delta variant and announced tighter restrictions in the capital and a week-long entry ban for travelers from hard-hit Malaysia and Thailand. The health ministry said it was investigating at least 47 delta-variant infections, some of which were among returning Filipino travelers. He said the clusters “were linked to other local cases, therefore showing local transmission.” The Philippines has reported 5,828 new cases and 17 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed infections to more than 1.5 million and 26,891 deaths. Authorities have warned provincial and municipal governments to prepare for the worst by stocking up on drugs, oxygen tanks and critical care equipment. After recently easing closures in Manila and outlying areas, the government announced that the capital region of more than 13 million people, along with four provinces, would again be placed under general quarantine “with increased restrictions. “from Friday to the end of the month. .

– South Korea extends the most stringent distancing rules imposed on the greater Seoul area by two more weeks. South Korea on Friday reported 1,630 new cases, marking the 17th consecutive day, its daily caseload is over 1,000. About 70% of recent cases have been detected in the Seoul area. Home Affairs and Security Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said it was inevitable that social gatherings and travel would be restricted. Current rules prohibit gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. and require the closure of high-risk facilities such as nightclubs. Weddings and funerals can only be attended by relatives, up to a limit of 49 people.

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Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine