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New Zealand outlines road map for reopening borders
August 12th 2021
New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the country will soon categorise countries as low, medium and high risk as part of a road map to "reconnect New Zealand to the world". Read More » Vaccinated people traveling from low-risk places will be able to enter New Zealand without undergoing quarantine, while those from medium-risk origin countries will be required to complete a combination of self-isolation and supervised quarantine. The high-risk pathway will retain the current 14 days of quarantine and COVID-19 testing for vaccinated and non-vaccinated travellers. Ardern said the country will begin a self-isolation trial between October and December this year for vaccinated New Zealanders. “Key to this is maintaining our elimination strategy. The advice is clear: if we open our borders now we will lose the freedoms and advantages we have achieved so far," Ardern said. “If we give up our elimination approach too soon there is no going back and we could see significant breakouts here like some countries are experiencing who have opened up early in their vaccination roll-out.” Ardern said New Zealand also will ramp up its COVID-19 vaccination program with all eligible ages able to book an appointment for inoculation against the coronavirus from September 1. “Once enough people are vaccinated, we will be able to start the next step in the plan: a phased introduction of an individual risk-based approach to border settings in 2022," the prime minister said.
